It has always been my advice that in the case of a bilker or the possible confrontation

with another road user, a cab driver should stay in his or her cab. Don’t chase

after the person who ran off without paying or leave your cab to remonstrate with

another driver: It’s not worth it and you don’t know what it will lead to. Take the case of

this cab driver. He put down his last job in Vallance Road E1 and headed for his home in

Edmonton; it was about 4.15am on Sunday 28 January. He drove up Queensbridge

Road until he had to stop at a set of traffic lights behind two other cars. The lights

changed but the first car didn’t move. After a few moments, the driver of the second

car decided he couldn’t wait any longer and pulled round the stationary vehicle. The

cab driver followed suit. He continued into Cecilia road, unaware

that the car that had stayed at the lights was now following him. He soon

found out when the driver of the silver Vauxhall Omega tried to overtake him on

the wrong side of the road! When the cab driver turned left into Sandringham Road,

He was forced to stop when the Omega pulled across the front of the cab.

The driver of the Vauxhall approached the cab, broke off the weathershield round

the window and then went to smash the driver’s door with an iron bar. The cab driver

pushed the door in an attempt to get the attacker away but then couldn’t shut it.

The two began to fight and the cab driver thought he held the advantage; that

was until another couple of men from the car joined the affray. Three against one

was too much and the cab driver received a head wound that required stitches.

he described the attackers as eastern European in their 40s. Two were on the

stocky side and the other quite slim. a witness jotted down the number plate of the

silver Vauxhall Omega which is W579 TKX or Y. So if you should spot the car, please

inform the police. When I asked why he got out of the cab, the driver told me that he felt he was

quite capable of settling the problem one to-one and thought that if he didn’t, the

attacker would smash his cab up. He hadn’t taken into account that

there were others in the Vauxhall. Better a smashed cab than a smashed body!