GRIMSBY

OFFICERS are following up a number of lines of enquiry and are continuing to appeal for information, following reports of a knife-wielding bogus taxi driver operating in Grimsby, last month.

As previously reported, Police are investigating reports that a bogus taxi driver operating in Grimsby picked up a knife after being challenged by a passenger.

The incident happened in the Riverhead area of Grimsby at 12.30pm on Sunday, September 18 - when a man and woman got into a silver Mondeo, which was parked in a taxi rank. The man challenged the driver after being quoted a fare he believed was too high and spotting that no meter was fitted to the vehicle.

A verbal altercation ensued, during which it is claimed the driver showed the passengers a knife. However, no threats were made. The couple got out of the vehicle and the driver left the scene.

The suspect is described as being of Asian appearance, with a strong Indian accent. He had black hair, which was cropped on top and very short at the sides and was of a very slim build.

A Police spokesperson said: "Officers are following up a number of lines of inquiry and are continuing to appeal for information."

If you believe you have seen a bogus taxi, try to get the vehicle registration number and report it to the police straight away.Anyone with information is asked to call 101, quoting crime reference number 2215680.

https://goo.gl/T0yPC3

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HAILO..EIRE

Hailo, the app which matches taxis to passengers, is offering new drivers a €200 sign-up bonus in a bid to cope with a surge in demand.

Hailo general manager Tim Arnold said he is predicting the "busiest winter ever" for taxis.
That reflects a wider economic recovery, with "phenomenal growth in corporate, airport and hospitality businesses with thousands of hotel guests now being carried by Hailo drivers each week", he said.

September 2016 has been busier than the run up to Christmas and New Year's Eve 2015, Mr Arnold said.
Hailo users generated 16 million journeys in Ireland last year, he said. With that tally set to rise the company is seeking to boost driver numbers to meet the level of demand.

https://goo.gl/sZLtUA

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BRISTOL

A taxi driver inflicted a terrifying attack on his ex-wife in which she thought she would die, a jury has heard.

Mourad Tighilt was charged with attempted murder after the incident - but psychiatrists have agreed he is suffering from mental illness and is unfit to either plead or stand trial.

Jurors at Bristol Crown Court were told today that they had to decide whether the 47-year-old, of no fixed address, did the act alleged.

Richard Posner, prosecuting, told the jury Tighilt is too unwell to stand trial and their duty was to decide if he was responsible for inflicting injuries on his wife and was attempting to kill her.

Mr Posner said it was in June last year that Tighilt, a former secretary of the Bristol branch of the National Taxi Association, drove from Nailsea to his former matrimonial home in Bishopsworth, and smothered and pummelled his ex-wife Joanna in her bedroom.

The court heard the attack stopped when one of Mrs Tighilt's children came into her bedroom, and she called police.

Read more: Shop worker who filmed himself raping girl aged six is jailed

Her ex-husband was arrested shortly afterwards, telling police he had attacked his wife and had heard a female voice in his head.

Mr Posner told the jury: "He said the voice encouraged him to attack and kill his wife.

"He presented as perplexed and distressed."

The jury watched a video recording in which a bruised Mrs Tighilt gave an emotional account of her ordeal.

Fighting back tears, she said: "I'd gone to bed and I was being attacked.

"There were hands 'round my throat and pillows were put on my face.

"I couldn't move my hands properly and I was struggling and struggling.

"I couldn't get free. It was going on and on and on, the pillows, the struggling.

"At one point I managed to get my head out from under the pillows.

"I was trying to get up.

"There was just this pain. I was being punched until I went back down."

https://goo.gl/16IicV