Taxi driver badly hurt in attack in Leeds

A TAXI driver badly injured when a yob hurled a stone at his cab in Leeds was one of more than 20 drivers at a meeting called to encourage drivers to report attacks.
Leeds taxi driver Awais Hussain was badly injured by a yob throwing stones at his cab.Leeds taxi driver Awais Hussain was badly injured by a yob throwing stones at his cab.
Leeds taxi driver Awais Hussain was badly injured by a yob throwing stones at his cab.

Private hire driver Awais Hussain, 29, had to have stitches in a nasty wound on his nose after the attack, which happened on Woodhouse Street in Woodhouse, Leeds, at around 11pm on Friday.

He said: “My window was open a bit and a stone hit me and blood was pouring from my nose.

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“It felt like I had been shot. I was literally crying, that’s how bad it was. I got out of the car and I fell down. I thought I was going to die.”

Mr Hussain went to hospital to have stitches in his badly cut nose and was forced to take four days of work.

Coun Javaid Akhtar (Lab/Hyde Park and Woodhouse) invited taxi drivers to the meeting at Woodsley Road Community Centre in Hyde Park on Tuesday night.

A number of drivers said their taxis had been targeted by children throwing stones. Drivers said hotspot areas include Armley Ridge Road, Armley; Cockshott Lane, Armley; Easterly Road, Gipton and York Road, Halton Moor.

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Coun Akhtar, said: “To be attacked for doing your job should not be tolerated and that’s why I called the meeting. We are trying to encourage drivers to report every single incident and the schools need to educate their young people to be more responsible.” West Yorkshire Police sergeant John McNiff said buses and other motorists have also been targeted.