London: A Muslim taxi driver in the UK was thrashed and punched by a drunk woman and her accomplice with a passerby filming the “horrific incident” and uploading it on social media, media reports said.
Shahid Iqbal, 50, who works as a freelance driver in Normanton in England, said the drunk woman tried to take control of the car before he dropped her at an address in Normanton where he was attacked by her and a man.
The incident, filmed by a laughing bystander who put it on social media, happened after the woman refused to pay her taxi fare, Derby Telegraph reported.
“There was a man and a woman who I picked up and I was taking them to an address in Normanton but I wish I had not. It was a horrific journey. On the way, the woman put her feet on the dashboard, I politely asked her why and if she could put them down,” Iqbal was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
“She did not like that and then told me they did not have any money for the fare. The man told her to pay me but she said she did not have money. I carried on driving but then she suddenly lunged across me and tried to take the steering wheel. She said she wanted to drive and she was pushing me,” the taxi driver said.
Iqbal, who has been a taxi driver for 10 years, said the early-hours journey turned nasty when the woman started demanding money from him.
“I said just pay me and go. She then started to hit me. She grabbed my phone and started to bite it. I then phoned 999 and told them what was happening. She then went for me again and bit my arm. She was then pushing me and forced me out of the taxi and into the street.
“I tried to stop her but then the man with her started to get angry. She then hit me twice quite hard. He followed that with two really hard punches which were brutal. I fell to the floor and I was in agony,” Iqbal said, adding that when he again dialled 999, the man and woman ran away.
Meanwhile, the incident was recorded by a bystander who, Iqbal said, did not try and help.
“What I went through was horrific and totally unjustified. I work very hard and I do not deserve these things to happen. It was terrible. Thankfully I was OK but it could have been much worse,” he added.
A spokesman for Derbyshire police said a 23-year-old woman had been arrested in connection with the incident.