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Total Stories: 30 Published: Thu, Aug 14, 2008

Taxi driver is considering quitting his job after savage weekend attack

Damage caused to a taxi during an attack on its driver at the weekend at Urney Road.

By Conor Sharkey

A Strabane taxi driver was this week considering quitting his job following a vicious weekend assault which left him needing hospital treatment.

The driver, who did not wish to be identified, was attacked on the Urney Road as he was driving a fare to Donegal at around 4am on Monday morning.

The shocking incident unfolded after the driver picked up a female passenger in Abercorn Square who asked to be taken to Liscooley.

While driving close to Clady dump, a white transit van pulled across the car's path, causing the driver to swerve and stop. Two male occupants then got out and started to beat the driver in what was a savage and sustained assault.

The men were unable to drag the driver from the car because of his seat belt, however they continued to kick and punch him, knocking out several teeth, causing severe bruising to his ribs and face and leaving him needing a number of stitches.

A motive for the attack is unknown how it is believed it may be linked to an incident earlier in the evening when the 59-year-old Riverside taxi man refused to take a fare to Killygordon, after the customer revealed she had no money to pay him.

Speaking earlier this week, the man's son revealed his father only took up taxiing one month ago.

"My father was driving out the Urney Road at about 3.45am, when a white van pulled out in front of him.

"Initially he thought the van had stalled but then a passenger got out and came around to the driver's door and started attacking him. Two seconds later, the driver did the same.

"They broke his glasses, he needed stitches for a head wound, he has bruised ribs and cheekbones and lost three teeth.

"We aren't sure what the attack was about, but we think it is related to an incident earlier in the evening. He was driving across Lifford Bridge with a fare and his passenger asked him to stop with a girl who appeared to be in distress. He lifted the girl who asked to be taken on to Killygordon.

"On the way there, the girl asked how much the fare was. My father told her and she said she only had 20c in her purse. My father said he could take her no further and dropped the girl off.

"A couple of hours later, a second fare got in and as he was driving her to Liscooley he was stopped.

"We think the incidents are related because as soon as the white van pulled out, the female passenger jumped out of the taxi and into the van," he explained.

The driver's son added that his father is still considering whether he will return to work at all.

"He has only been taxiing for a month and this has left him badly shaken, so he is still undecided about what to do next. He is 59 and naturally the family are concerned for his safety, but the decision is up to him," he said.

Meanwhile, police are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time and could help identify the driver and passengers in the white van.

They also want to speak to anyone who saw a female in her late 20s, of stocky build with thick long wavy black hair, on Abercorn Square between 3.50am and 4am.

Call 0845 600 8000 or 'Crimestoppers' anonymously on freephone 0800 555 111.

," a PSNI spokeperson said.

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