Taxi driver needed stitches in his head after being hit with a stick by a physicist desperate to get to the opera
At a hearing at Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court, Peter Williamson admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm
An opera lover beat a cabbie over the head with his ornate walking stick and swore at him because he feared he would miss a performance of Puccini.
Peter Williamson, a retired doctor, swore at the cab driver as he shouted at him and asked where they were going because he feared he would be late for the open air show in Holland Park, west London.
The physicist, who is a fellow with the Royal Institution, was turfed out of the taxi after launching a tirade of abuse at driver Kevin Johnson.
After dropping Williamson at a cash point on Kensington High Street, Mr Johnson saw Williamson walk past the machine, so climbed out of the car to point him in the right direction.
But Williamson raised his stick above his head and struck his head with the handle, leaving him bleeding and needing stiches.
At a hearing at Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court Williamson admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The court heard he had been keen to see a performance of one of Puccini’s lesser known works, ‘The Girl of the Golden West.’
Helen Clutton, prosecuting said the taxi driver had collected Williamson in Wimbledon in south London on January 17 after he flagged him down in the street.
He said he needed to stop for cash, but had become irate by the time the cab had reached Warwick Road near Earls Court.
Ms Clutton said: “He shouted at the victim ‘where are we you f*****g c***’ and demanded ‘Where are you f*****g taking me.
“The victim could not understand why Dr Williamson was getting so irate and wanted to get him out of the taxi as soon as possible.”
Mr Johnson pulled over in Kensington High Street and got out of the car to ensure Williamson made it to the cash point.
Ms Clutton said: “They got almost parallel with the cashpoint machine and the victim turned around to check Dr Williamson was coming with him.
“Dr Williamson lifted his walking stick straight over his right shoulder and struck his victim over the head.
“It was similar to a hammer hitting a nail.”
Williamson is said to have struck him twice with the ornate heavy handle of his walking stick in the ‘repeated assault’.
Mr Johnson suffered a two inch wound and had to have two stitches after the unprovoked attack.
District Judge Denis Brennan noted the defendant’s good character but said he was still ‘at risk of a custodial sentence’.
The hearing was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared in advance of sentencing on September 18.
Plans to build two new cycleways have been unveiled by London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Transport for London said they would be Europe’s longest substantially-segregated cycleways.
There will be north-south and east-west routes, with other protected cycle routes being created for dangerous junctions.
The cycleways are central to the mayor’s £913m investment in improving cycling in the capital.
Work will start early next year.
Value for money?
Launching a consultation on the plans, Mr Johnson said: “Getting more people on to their bikes will reduce pressure on the road, bus and rail networks, cut pollution, and improve life for everyone, whether or not they cycle themselves.”
But Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said the mayor’s plans would cost £100 per Londoner and challenged him to prove that this was value for money.
“It would be a mistake to think London is clogged up with selfish drivers in their cars,” he said.
“Much of the traffic is essential freight and commercial movements, not to mention buses and taxis, and if you cut capacity then business costs will rise and deliveries put at risk.”
The north-south route will run for more than three miles from King’s Cross to Elephant and Castle.
The east-west route will run over 18 miles from Barking to Acton, and include a section on the Westway flyover where one lane will be removed to create a segregated cycle track.
Dangerous junctions will also be re-designed to include protected cycle routes at Tower Hill, Blackfriars, Parliament Square and Lancaster Gate.
Routes will be created for other parts of the City, West End and London suburbs. The routes are due to open in March 2016.
So far this year, nine cyclists have died on London’s roads.
The scheme will create segregated routes running north-south, east-west and at dangerous junctions
London Mayor Boris Johnson said getting more cyclists on the road would “improve life for everyone”
Additional cycleways will be created to serve the City of London, the West End and the capital’s suburbs
Taxi union RMT reaction to news that German courts have banned the Uber App.
Mick Cash, RMT Acting General Secretary, said
“This is an important and significant development. The undermining of the Private Hire Laws by apps such as Uber is just another attempt to casualise and weaken the professional and safe licensed taxi trade and the long-established regulations around the right to ply for hire, coming after the exposure of the illegal ranks around London and the drive to destroy the airport services.
“Huge and wealthy multi-national corporations like Google are now trying to use their financial clout to bully their way into areas that have been governed by Private Hire Laws in London and other cities around the globe for decades and which have delivered safe, reliable and efficient services for passengers down the years. The news from Germany should serve as a wake-up call to London Mayor Boris Johnson and others who seem to be beholden to Uber’s financial and corporate power.”
Passengers face a big hike in charges after cab drivers argue they need a better deal to cover their costs
Taxis
Taxi passengers in Coventry are facing a 25 per cent hike in fares from the end of this month.
The rise was approved by Coventry City Council today after cab drivers argued they needed a better deal to cover their costs.
Journeys will now be charged at 25p for every tenth of a mile or 48 seconds – up from the previous rate of 20p.
The standard fee of £2.80 on arrival in the day and £3.60 at night will be frozen, but the distance the taxi must travel before the meter starts ticking over has been reduced by roughly a quarter – to about half a mile.
Council officials had originally only recommended shortening the distance travelled before the meter kicked in.
But Coun Rachel Lancaster, cabinet member for public services, went further and decided on a 25 per cent rise across the rest of the journey.
It means a two-mile journey will increase from £5.40 to £6.30 in the day and from £7.80 to £9 in the evening. On public holidays the standard fee of £3.90 will stay in place but the rolling charge will rise to 35p from 30p.
Coun Lancaster told drivers: “Having listened to your concerns I’m willing to increase the 20p rate to 25p.” It is the first rise in taxi fares since 2008 and will come into force on September 29.
Alan Lewis, regional organiser for Unite, welcomed the news after he argued the proposed reduction in journey length before the meter kicked in was not a substantial enough measure.
He said: “We are happier than when we went in. Clearly, over a six year period, the amount that the drivers have fallen behind is significant.
“As far as the public is concerned, the amount needed to address the shortfall would be astronomical to introduce in one go rather than if it had been introduced incrementally. This gives us a starting point and we are pleased they have seen the increase they proposed wasn’t enough.”
Mr Lewis also said drivers would be pushing for further increases during a scheduled review in 12 months time.
Trevor Davies, who has been driving a cab in the city for 40 years, said the change initially proposed would have been the “last straw” for his career.
He said: “It was a pleasant surprise that we were able to get an increase off them which actually covers running costs.
“In 2008 they scrapped the extra 20p charge for each additional person in the taxi. Most other towns do that and we should have it back.”
Car pick-up service Uber has been banned across Germany.
A court in Frankfurt ruled that the firm lacked the necessary legal permits to operate under German law.
It has emerged that the firm was told last week that its “low-cost” UberPop service could no longer take passengers and faced a fine if it continued.
But an Uber spokesman said it had decided not to suspend the service, adding that the ban was not enforceable while an appeal process was ongoing.
“Germany is one of the fastest growing markets for Uber in Europe,” he said.
“We will continue to operate in Germany and will appeal the recent lawsuit filed by Taxi Deutschland in Frankfurt.
“You cannot put the brakes on progress. Uber will continue its operations and will offer UberPop ridesharing services via its app throughout Germany.”
A check of the firm’s software confirms that drivers continue to offer UberPop pick-ups in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf.
UberPop vehicles include the Volkswagen Golf, Audi A4 and BMW 3ER
UberPop was launched earlier this year and involves drivers – who are not directly employed by the company – over the age of 21 using their own cars to transport passengers.
Taxi Deutschland suggested that Uber could face up to a 250,000 euro ($327,840; £198,342) fine per trip if the American firm loses the case.
The body described its rival as a “form of locust share-economy” indulging in “anarchy capitalism” that could leave passengers exposed in the case of an accident.
“In Germany there’s insurance that applies to private drivers,” explained spokeswoman Anja Floetenmeyer.
“But if your insurer learns that you are driving for an app and you want to make money on that, they say this is a multiple risk and refuse to [pay] insurance on that.
“Uber doesn’t care because security costs money. We don’t believe it has the interests of [German] drivers and citizens at heart.”
But Uber’s spokesman in Germany, Fabien Nestmann, has previously blogged that safety is one of his firm’s key concerns, adding that “all the rides – and thus all travellers – are insured by Uber”.
European protests
The summary judgment follows a decision by London’s transport authorities not to pursue a case against Uber in June this year.
The San Francisco-based firm allows passengers to summon cars using an app on their smartphones and calculates the fare en route. It is often significantly cheaper than rival taxi companies.
Taxi driver in Berlin held a protest against ride-sharing apps in June
But taxi drivers argue that Uber has fewer regulatory burdens placed upon it than they do, and poses unfair competition.
The company – which is backed by Google and the bank Goldman Sachs, among others – has been the subject of protests by taxi drivers in many European cities, including Berlin, Paris and London.
Only last week, Uber said it was planning to rapidly expand its German
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