SHAME SHAME
SCARED TAXI PASSENGER FLUNG HERSELF FROM DIABETIC YEOVIL DRIVER’S DANGEROUS CAB
A passenger threw herself from a moving cab because she was terrified the diabetic driver was about to crash. According to SomersetLive, Mark Cousins, from Yeovil, appeared at Taunton Crown Court where he admit- ted dangerous driving and driving whilst disqualified. Prosecutor Ms Susan Cavender said the incident happened on September 9 last year. A woman had broken down but due to Covid restrictions the recovery vehicle would not take her so a taxi was booked. There was a muddle about the location and the taxi driver appeared rude and impatient on the phone, said the prosecutor. When he arrived the woman had been waiting for nearly three hours. When she got in, Cousins’ driving was
erratic said Ms Cavender. The passenger noticed the speed was increasing to 80mph and asked the driver if he was all right. At one stage he took a call from his boss at Yeovil Taxis saying other drivers had called to report his driving. Cousins told the company ‘It’s fine, mate”. At a roundabout Cousins performed an emergency stop and skidded into a barrier. He apologised and drove on. His passenger was so scared she asked to be let out but Cousins refused saying ‘it’s fine, love’. “In desperation as the car slowed down she opened the rear passenger door and threw herself out,” said the prose- cutor. She had been in the car for about 15 minutes. As the passenger left the car she hit the ground and began
SCHOOLBOY SEXUALLY ABUSED BY DUMFRIES CABBIE TRUSTED TO TAKE HIM TO SCHOOL
A schoolboy was routinely sexually abused by a taxi driver who was trusted to take him to school. The Scottish Sun reports that John Walls, 59, first preyed on the lad when he was just 11 years old, while working for a firm that had a local authority school transport contract. Walls, of Dumfries, targeted the young- ster while they were alone together in his taxi between March 2016 and September 2020, the court heard. Prosecutor Kath Harper said: “The boy has found it difficult to estimate the number of times this conduct occurred.” When the child moved to another school, Walls continued to keep in contact with him via social media. He would meet him in his taxi and stop in various places around Dumfries to continue abusing him. The boy’s mum became concerned when she noticed Walls sitting in his
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taxi near her home and later spoke to the police.
Her son then told a teacher he had been abused by the taxi driver. Walls admitted his sickening abuse during a “family summit” with his rela- tives, the High Court in Glasgow heard. He was arrested in September last year after he told his loved ones the victim was “telling the truth”, saying he “could not lie any more”. He was jailed for four years and eight months on 19 October, after previously pleading guilty to charges of sexual assault and rape. Walls will be super- vised for a further three years when he is released from prison. Judge Lord Clark said: “This was deplorable abuse which must have caused lasting distress for this vulnera- ble young boy.” He said his sentence would have been seven years if Walls had not submitted his guilty pleas.
rolling. She needed three stitches on her head, four stitches on her elbow and suffered ligament damage to both feet and gravel wounds. She still suffers from memory problems and anxiety. Cousins carried on driving and was seen drifting onto the central reserva- tion, travelling slowly then speeding up to 80mph and swerving onto grass verges. The taxi eventually ended up in a hedge. Cousins’ blood sugar level was dangerously low and he was taken to hospital.
He had been working for the firm for ten years and told police he could not remember anything about driving the woman. Mr Patrick Mason, defending, said the incident happened because Cousins had not been due to start his shift until 4pm that day. His boss called to say he was the only person available to pick- up the woman. As a result of the change to his routine he had not tested his blood sugar levels or had lunch which led to him suffering a hypo- glycemic episode. “He didn’t want to cause injury to any- body,” said Mr Mason. He said Cousins had a strong work ethic and had not driven since. He was now employed at the hospital as a porter. It turned out Cousins had passed out at the wheel on a previous occasion in 2015 when he was driving from Heathrow. Since then he had been required to regularly update his licence due to his diabetes which he has had since he was 20. The licence had lapsed just three days before the incident, something he was not aware of. Judge Paul Cook said Cousins was not a threat to the public and did not need to be rehabilitated. Cousins was jailed for 10 months, sus- pended for 18 months, has to do 100 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for 30 months after which he will need to take an extended test before he is allowed his licence back.
NOVEMBER 2021
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