Another weekend, another brutal attack on a cabbie.
Taxi driver of 11 years, Avtar Singh, 52, was left shaken up with serious facial injuries, including a fractured eye socket, after picking up a drunken passenger in Leicester.
Mr Singh picked up his attacker along with four other people in the city centre at approximately 3:20am on Sunday morning. The attacker didn’t take the taxi direct to his destination but stopped at several points to let his friends out of the cab. They then made a final stop in Netherhall. The remaining man then said he had no money to pay the £18 fare that had built up on their journey.
After a disagreement over the fare, Mr Singh decided to report it to the police. When he reached for his mobile, he was punched several times in the back of the head and the attack continued when he tried to escape. The passenger kicked and punched while Mr Singh lay on the ground.
Luckily, Mr Singh found the strength to struggle to his feet and run away, while his attacker was too drunk to run after him.
The father-of-three, who is now was recovering at his home in Leicester, is still in so much shock over his ordeal that he couldn’t comment on the incident.
However, his son, Kiran Singh, 26, commented: “The man who attacked my father knew exactly what he was doing – he was deliberately aiming punches at his head.
“He was drunk and out of control. My father said he was like a bull in a ring.
“My father had to run for his life. If he hadn’t got away he would have been killed. It’s a good job the man who attacked him was so drunk he couldn’t run after him.
“He’s not able to work at the moment and he’s still in shock. It’s going to be a slow recovery.”
Secretary of the RMT drivers union, Gurpal Singh, said attacks on taxi drivers were becoming more common.
He commented: “We’re trying to get more cab drivers to report incidents like this one to the police. When people get drunk they have no control over themselves and we end up with taxi drivers being attacked like this.”
Anyone with information should contact Detective Constable Steve Briance on the non-emergency number 101 and quote crime reference number CK/01038/12-9.