A BELFAST loyalist has been jailed for two years for threatening to blow a taxi driver's brains out at gunpoint.

Lee Hosie (25), a father-of-one from Melford Drive in the city, was told by Judge Piers Grant that his actions in December 2012 were both hostile and sectarian, and had left a lasting effect on the driver he threatened.

Hosie - who continues to deny the offences despite being found guilty by a jury in a trial held this January - was informed that he will spend half his sentence in custody, with the remaining two years spent on licence when he is released from prison.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Grant told Belfast Crown Court: "Taxi drivers criss-cross the city whilst performing their work, and they serve both sides of the community by providing as essential service to the public.

"They work alone, and often at night, when they are vulnerable to violence and abuse."

During the week-long trial, the Catholic taxi driver told the jury he thought he was going to die when he was asked by his passenger Hosie whether he was a 'Prod or a Taig'

The incident occurred on December 4, 2012 - the same night that experienced the first disorder linked to the protests over the flying of the Union flag at the City Hall.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/2016/03/11/news/loyalist-who-threatened-to-blow-taxi-driver-s-head-off-sent-to-prison-446126/

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 BLACKPOOL

 A mum and her four children were left ‘shaken’ after being caught in a horror car crash.

Lydia Sharman, 25, and her children Adian, seven, Kermisha, four, Melissa, three, and Telisha, two, were on their way home from the school run when a motorbike collided with the taxi they were travelling in.

The crash, which happened at around 3.30pm on Park Road, Blackpool, on Monday, left the 42-year-old biker with a broken leg after he was thrown from his blue Yamaha in the collision.

Full-time mum Miss Sharman said her children are ‘lucky to be alive’ after the crash.

She said: “There was a huge bang which scared us really badly. My son Adian was sitting near the window on the side of the collision.

“He banged his head on the side of the window and when I took him home he was complaining of a headache. The baby was near the window too.

“The motorcyclist was on the ground bleeding and crying out. My children were all screaming and crying. It was shocking.

“It was horrendous. We’re lucky to be alive.”

Miss Sharman added the incident had left her children ‘traumatised’.

She said: “My son was calling out in his sleep the other night and shouting stuff because he was dreaming about what happened.

“They have definitely been affected by it.

“We were just lucky it was a bike and not another car.”

A police spokesman said: “We were called at 3.30pm to a road traffic collision resulting in serious injury.

“A motorbiker had been travelling down Park Road and had come off after being involved in a collision with a black London-style taxi.

“Enquiries are ongoing. No arrests have been made.”

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/local/taxi-crash-left-mum-and-children-shaken-1-7789337
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 BRIGHTON

 A Brighton student detained by the Home Office for working as a taxi driver in his spare time has been released from detention – but still faces deportation.


Civil engineering masters student Shukaib, 23, was seized by immigration officials on Saturday at the City Cabs office in Queens Road, because although his visa allows him to work part time, it did not allow him to do so on a self-employed basis.
Shukaib says he was not aware of this technicality, and had assumed that as he had passed the rigorous checks, including immigration checks, carried out by Brighton and Hove City Council when gaining his license, he was allowed to work.

All of City Cabs 250 other drivers were also checked on Saturday, but Shukaib was the only driver seized, and the cab company was told it had done nothing wrong.

http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2016/03/10/brighton-taxi-driver-released-but-still-under-threat-of-deportation/45644?

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BUDAPEST

 Hungarian taxi drivers began a demonstration against the operations of U.S.-based ride-sharing company Uber, again, following a four-day-long demonstration in January, according to reports.

Demonstrating taxis lined up at Hősök tere, and split up into four groups on their drive to the Center for Budapest Transport (BKK), the National Transport Authority, the U.S. Embassy in Hungary and the National Development Ministry, MTI reported. At the latter two locations taxi drivers are planning on handing in petitions against Uber, MTI added.

The demonstration is expected to continue at Deák Ferenc tér, one of the busiest junctions in the capital, at 11.00 am, where traffic congestion is anticipated once demonstrators close a lane, according to reports.

Uberʼs Hungarian operations came under fire after Hungarian taxi drivers demonstrated at Deák Ferenc tér, one of Budapestʼs central junctions, for four days in January, asking the government to shut down Uber. The government said it would change the regulations, and initiated negotiations with the representatives of taxi drivers, but did not invite Uber to take part, according to reports.

http://bbj.hu/budapest/hungarian-taxi-drivers-demonstrate-against-uber-again_112836?