A man died in Liverpool after being run over by a black cab later found to be not fit for the road, an inquest heard.
John McShane, 49, was knocked down by the Hackney cab in St Anne Street in the early hours of April 9 this year .
He suffered multiple injuries and was taken to Royal Liverpool Hospital , where he sadly died.
Liverpool Coroner’s Court heard that Asad Shahzad’s cab was later called into question after a mechanical examination revealed it would not pass its MOT.
The vehicle had power steering and brake faults.
But police told coroner Anita Bhardwaj that it was impossible to say whether the cab defects contributed to Mr McShane’s death, partly because of a lack of witnesses.
The inquest heard Mr Shahzad, was not under the influence and appeared to be driving within the speed limit of 30mph.
Mr Shahzad had a passenger in the back but he was apparently drunk and did not want to give evidence.
In a statement to the police, Mr Shahzad said: “I was looking straight ahead. The man fell in front of the cab - he came out of nowhere.”
On the day of the tragedy, Mr McShane had been with his brother, Joseph, and had been drinking with him since the late afternoon.
They then went back to watch the football at Joseph’s flat, where it was suggested that Mr McShane stay the night.
Joseph last saw his brother at about 11pm on April 8.
CCTV footage in court showed a car - Mr Shahzad’s taxi - driving along St Anne Street and applying emergency brakes.
It also showed a car in the distance, which put on high beam lights for nearly ten seconds before driving off.
Appeals to the driver of the car have been unsuccessful. Mr McShane was not visible in the footage.
Giving a verdict of accidental death, Ms Bhardwaj told the family: “I know that we have not been able to answer all of your questions.
“This is because it’s not known the direction John was travelling or where John was positioned at the time of the crash.
“There is also no evidence that the taxi defects contributed to the collision.
“John had consumed alcohol and cocaine but it is unclear how this affected him and if it contributed to the collision.”
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A Londoner woke up on the weekend to discover his Uber profile had been hacked and his bank account emptied.
Neil Thomas, 35, from Ladbroke Grove, was billed just over £2700 for four journeys he never made.
He's adamant no one else had access to his phone, which was by his bedside all night, and is protected by a six digit pass code and touch ID fingerprint recognition.
Musician Neil noticed payments for £5, £756.03, £1395.89 and £551.97 had left his account overnight when he checked his bank statement on Saturday morning.
“I contacted Nationwide and was told Uber had made a number of withdrawals from my account,” Neil told us.
“I’m a struggling musician with very little money at the best of times and it crippled me.”
When he contacted Uber to find out how his account had been hacked, Neil was given a cyber security lecture.
They advised him not to use the same passwords and email addresses across different platforms.
Worryingly, they also told him: “instances like this aren’t always preventable.”
As an apology, they offered Neil £12.95 off his next Uber – over two pounds less than new customers get just for signing up!
“They gave me the usual line of ‘we take your security very seriously’,” Neil told us.
“But I want to know how somebody can go into your account and take your money.
“I’m disappointed Uber doesn’t have any safeguards against this – it’s obvious that a fare of £1,395 is suspicious.
“Offering me £12.95 was just insulting.”
It’s not the first time doubts have been cast over the Uber app’s security.
Earlier this year thousands of customers, including TV presenter Anthea Turner, also claimed they were charged for trips they did not make.
Whilst Uber have refunded Neil, he has no way of withdrawing money because the hack prompted Nationwide to cancel his debit card.
“I’ve had to cancel events as I can’t get there or pay entry so it’s been a major inconvenience,” Neil explained.
We contacted Uber to ask them to explain how Neil’s account was hacked and how other users can stay safe.
Here’s what they told us:
“Someone would have got access to his password and logged into his account.”
When we asked them how users can stay safe, they repeated the line they have Neil:
“Our advice to Uber customers would be - don’t use the same username and password on all your online accounts.”
Not satisfied with this response, Neil has brought his complaint to A Spokesman Said to raise awareness.
“There has been no contrition and no effort towards meaningful compensation for crippling me financially for a week.”
https://goo.gl/ZCrs0m
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