June 19, 2008
Cabbie attacked by gang of yobs
AN OFF-duty London cabbie from Muswell Hill has spoken of the moment he was attacked by yobs behind a stranded bus.
Colin Renshaw, 52, was on the 134 bus in the early hours of Saturday morning when a gang of young men pulled the engine stop button at the back as it let off passengers in Colney Hatch Lane.
The black cab driver, who lives near Halliwick Road, said: "I asked the driver why we weren't moving. He said the people that got off had turned the engine off. I said to him, 'Why don't you turn it on?' and he said, 'I'm not coming out'.
"I walked off the bus and went round the back and started the engine and I was attacked by these yobs. I was punched to the side of the head and pushed backwards. I slipped and bashed my head on the back of the bus, then went down."
The incident is understood to have taken place outside Lady Sarah Cohen House, a residential care home, at around 12.45am as Mr Renshaw, and a friend returned from the Tally Ho pub in North Finchley.
"As soon as I started the engine, they started yelling," he said. "It happened so quickly. I didn't have time to be frightened."
Mr Renshaw was taken to Barnet General Hospital by ambulance suffering a cut eye and shock. He vowed the attack would not put him off going out.
"I will be careful," he said. "I've lived here for 25 years and this is the first time it's happened. In any society you have scum - I happened to bump into a few. But the youth of today are not all dreadful and nasty."
But he added: "It's very well our politicians telling us we should hug these people but they don't have to live among them."
A Barnet police spokesman confirmed they were investigating.
A spokesman for Metroline, which runs the 134 bus, said drivers were instructed to stay in their cabs in an emergency: "If there's a situation, the advice is to get assistance via the radio. That is what they would be told.
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