Waqas Farooq, his brother Waqar Farooq and Arar Akhtar launched the brutal attack in the early hours of Sunday, 5 May 2013 at the A2B taxi firm in Peterborough city centre.
Victim Rikki Moore suffered cuts and bruises in the assault, which saw the trio use a metal bar as well as punch and kick their victim.
They have now been given until the end of April to raise £750 compensation each, or they will be jailed.
Claire Matthews, prosecuting, told Peterborough Crown Court: “Brothers David and Rikki Moore went to A2B taxies. About a year before Rikki had a disagreement with the firm for having failed to pay a fare.
“He waited outside while David booked the taxi.
“After a while two men came out and pointed at Rikki, making threats to him.
“They pushed him against the wall, and then forced him to the ground.”
Miss Matthews said he was taken into a room, where he was then assaulted, including being hit in the back with a metal pole.
His brother tried to help, and was also struck in the struggle, but he managed to call 999.
Miss Matthews added that witnesses saw the attack, taking place.
She added: “Police went to the taxi office, and were aware of CCTV there. They asked to see it, but staff said there was no-one available who could show them the footage.
“They were asked to come back later in the week, but it had been deliberately deleted.”
Waqar (20) and Waqas (23), both of Harris Street have a history of violent offending, including convictions for assault, affray and possession of a weapon.
The court heard Akhtar (31) of Cromwell Road, had a more limited record, which included a conviction for possession with intent to supply a class B drug.
Judge Sean Enright said he had previously indicated all three defendants would face a jail term, but said it could be avoided if compensation was made available to the victims.
Investigation to start after case
A Peterborough City Council spokesman said an investigation, carried out by the taxi licencing team, would take place once the court case had been concluded.
He said there were no rules or regulations about how long CCTV footage should be kept for after an incident.
No-one from A2B was available for comment.
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Cambridgeshire
A taxi driver and his passenger had a lucky escape after the vehicle careered off the road and plunged into a ditch filled with icy water.
The Chevrolet vehicle was travelling along Whittlesey Road near Thorney on Tuesday (25 March) when the accident happened.
The car crashed into the dyke, filled with freezing water at about 4pm and the pair desperately clung to the roof until help arrived.
The pair were rescued after being spotted by a passing motorist who called for emergency services, and they took refuge on the roof of the stranded vehicle as the car filled with water.
Fire and rescue, police and ambulance crews were all called to help bring the pair to safety, and the duo escaped with only minor injuries from their ordeal.
A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Firefighters wearing in-water suits used a rescue sled to rescue two casualties who were unable to safely exit the vehicle, which was submerged in water to approximately window-level.”
She said the driver of the car was found perched on the window frame of the car, while the passenger was on the roof.
The fire and rescue crews were on scene until 5.10pm while the rescue took place.
A police spokesman said: “A passing motorist called us and said there was a car in the water. We did not have to close the road, as cars could avoid the work being carried out by the side of the road.”
The two men, one aged in his 40s, the other in his 20s, were both taken to Peterborough City Hospital by ambulance after they had been helped to the side of the dyke by rescue crews.
A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We were called to the scene just before 4pm to reports of a car in the water.
“Two people had been injured in the crash, and were stranded on the car.
“A man in his 40s had suffered leg and hand injuries, while the man in his 20s had a shoulder injury.
“They were taken to hospital, although it was not thought the injuries were serious.”
A Peterborough City Council spokeswoman said the taxi licensing team had not heard about the incident but were keen to speak to the driver involved as part of a welfare check.
The spokeswoman said there would not be an investigation into the crash.
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Washington. USA.
Taxi cartels aim to run upstarts like Uber off the road
There’s a war on in the courts and city halls between the taxi cartels and ambitious independent drivers who offer residents a ride with a smartphone app. The taxicab industry is filing lawsuits hither and yon, trying to divert high-tech ridesharing firms such as Uber, Lyft and SideCar onto a dead-end street.
Taxi drivers are highly regulated and tightly organized, making them a formidable political force that local politicians are loath to cross. Many big cities require the purchase of a “medallion” for the privilege of owning a cab. The scheme restricts the number of drivers so severely that $1 million is required to buy a medallion and start as a cabbie in New York City.
Upstarts with the backing of venture-capital firms figured out a better way. Instead of expecting customers to stand on a busy street corner, waving a hand in hopes of getting a cab — usually futile during rush hour — entrepreneurial drivers devised a way to let computers do the work. Press a button on a mobile phone, and the nearest rideshare car or wagon as located by GPS is dispatched to the waiting rider.
Drivers for the new services must pass a short safety course and a background check. There’s no limit on the number of drivers. These popular services have been growing so swiftly that some drivers are leaving taxi companies to drive for the upstarts, which can pay up to $40 an hour and allow drivers to set their own schedules.
A taxi medallion isn’t as precious as it once was. The taxi cartels feel the heat and have been asking government to snuff the competition.
In Miami, Uber is prohibited by a rule forbidding taxi and limousine services from providing services for less than an hour a ride. The city established a minimum fare of $80 and limited the number of drivers, designed to drive the upstarts from the street.
Seattle limits the number of drivers the high-tech startups can put on the road at one time, cutting the number of available taxis by two-thirds. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, not wanting to waste a manufactured crisis, proposes a new licensing scheme that would require ridesharing firms to pay a $25,000 annual fee, in addition to hefty per-drive and per-ride taxes.
A taxi drivers’ union filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago demanding a judge limit the number of drivers Uber and Lyft can put on the streets. The Institute for Justice filed a motion on Tuesday to dismiss the complaint.
“There is nothing in the Constitution that protects taxicab companies from competition,” says Institute lawyer Anthony Sanders.
In Washington, attempts to suppress Uber failed, and residents have reaped the benefits. During the winter’s big snowstorms, the D.C. Taxicab Commission tacked a $15 “snow emergency” fee on taxicab fares. Uber didn’t exploit the bad weather to raise fares, and the company offered the least expensive way to get through the ice and slush.
In cities such as Seattle and Chicago, residents must take their slim chances of getting a ride in the rain and snow, and there’s no incentive for the taxi cartels to adapt to the new technological reality. Prosperity for all comes from encouraging innovation, not coddling greedy cartels.
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