West Yorkshire Taxi driver stabbed in face over £3.50 fare

Dad-to-be Mohammed Jamil was attacked with a craft knife by one of three passengers.

Source: Yorkshire Evening Post

By debbie leigh
A West Yorkshire taxi driver is recovering after being stabbed in the face over a £3.50 fare.
Dad-to-be Mohammed Jamil was attacked with a craft knife by one of three passengers at around 4pm yesterday after driving them from Dewsbury town centre to School Lane, Dewsbury Moor.

The 37-year-old was rushed to hospital and had two stitches in the gash, which is perilously close to his left eye.

Mr Jamil, who has worked for Crown Taxis in Dewsbury for around seven years, said: "I'm really scared about going back.

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"It's going to take me a few weeks."

He added: "I was lucky I only got cut on the forehead. I could have lost an eye or been seriously injured. The fare was just £3.50. It is such a rediculous amount to have resulted in such violence."

He said if returning to his job proved too traumatic he would have to find different, less dangerous work.

His wife Rashada Bibi, who is around five months pregnant, was shocked and upset by the knife attack.

Mr Jamil's colleague Basharat Rashid, who has worked for Crown Cars for 17 years, said: "It's getting out of hand.

"He's a daytime driver, he doesn't do evenings. You expect to be safer in the daytime. I don't want someone ringing my wife saying 'your husband's dead'."

Mr Jamil, who lives in Dewsbury, picked the trio up from the Crown Taxis office and drove them to the top of School Lane, near its junction with School Crescent.

He said when he stopped, all three men jumped out.

He said he then got out of the car and asked: "Can you pay me the money please?"

He said: "He (the front-seat passenger) got a knife out and tried to slash me. He didn't say anything, he just slashed. I backed off, then he came again and I was
too late and he slashed me in the head. Then he jumped over the wall and ran off."

He said the other two also ran off.

A passing driver saw the attack and called the police.

The road was cordoned off for several hours.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "Police were called at around 4pm to reports of a stabbing incident involving a 37-year-old taxi driver on School Lane, Dewsbury Moor in Dewsbury.

"The taxi driver was taken to Dewsbury District Hospital. Two people have since been arrested and are currently detained at Dewsbury Police Station."

Mr Rashid said their boss Ismail Patel was robbed by a passenger who held a knife to his throat, also on School Lane, in December.

Several months ago taxi firms threatened to strike over fears for drivers' safety after a number of attacks and ambushes in Dewsbury. In one, an air gun was fired at a taxi driving along Heckmondwike Road, Dewsbury Moor.