Moment cabbie feared for his life

A TERRIFIED taxi driver feared for his life after three men stoned his car after refusing to pay a £2 fare.

Five cabbies from Premier Cars in Shaw Road went on strike on Christmas Eve in support of their diabetic colleague Raja Mehmood, who was driven off the road at the busiest time of the year by damage including a smashed windscreen, three other broken windows and large dents to the bodywork.

Company boss Taheed Sadiq is to talk to police to highlight the dangers facing drivers.

Father-of-two Mr Mehmood (30) of Balfour Street, Clarksfield, had picked up three men aged 19-21 at the Grouse Inn, Lees Road. When he dropped them at Spring Street they didn’t pay — and hurled stones at the private-hire car when he asked for the fare.

He said: “I thought I was going to die. It was very scary. There was no argument before — nothing, but when I asked them for the money they got angry. I was trapped in a narrow street and couldn’t get away.”

Customers at the Carrion Crow pub in Huddersfield Road helped Mr Mehmood, but the cabbie now faces an uncertain future: “I don’t know what I am going to do. I have no money to buy a car or to fix it,” he admitted.

Mr Sadiq said police had failed to act on similar incidents: “It is not just us. It has happened to Delta Cars and Radio Cars. The same thing happened a few weeks ago in Limeside. We report it to the police and they do nothing.”