Another bad cab driver-----
less than a month after the last bad cab driver....??


Shoppers flee as black taxicab mounts pavement
in London's Covent Garden


Shoppers fled in panic after a taxi cab mounted a pavement near London’s bustling Covent Garden on Wednesday afternoon, hitting a number of people.

Photographs showed what appeared to be people lying on the pavement in front of the black cab.

Dozens of police, ambulance and fire vehicles attended the scene as shoppers fled from the area.

Ed Hoppitt , who witnessed the incident, wrote on Twitter: “Just came within meters of being hit by a vehicle that mounted the pavement and ploughed into people.

“People down under taxi.”

Paramedics were seen carrying two people on stretchers into ambulances.

A barrister at the Aubaune cafe said that they had been told the driver of a reported black cab had "lost control".

He added that a number of people are believed to have been hit, adding that people ran from the scene "screaming and panicking".

Scotland Yard said officers were called just after 5pm to reports of a taxi hitting pedestrians in Southampton Street.

There were initially fears the incident may have been a deliberate attack, but shortly police said it was not terror related.

A Met Police spokesman said: "Officers and the other emergency services attended the scene. We are aware of injuries but await further confirmation.


"The driver of the taxi stopped at the scene and has been detained by police.

"This is being treated as a serious road traffic collision, and not thought to be terrorist related."

Kareem Chehayeb, an MA student at King's College, later Tweeted: "Things have calmed down but police are asking people in the area to leave as they investigate."

Following the incident the busy Strand, leading from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych, was closed in both directions, causing traffic disruption throughout the area.

A mother and her two daughters were yards from being struck by the taxi as they made their way down Southampton St, they told The Telegraph.

Luella, 18, and her mother, from Brighton, said they had been about to say goodbye to her sister when they heard a "metallic scraping sound".

They turned to see a black cab being driving by a "white, bald man in his fifties, who was conscious" driving down the pavement towards them "really really fast."

"I was just stunned and was just standing right in front of where he was driving. My mum just grabbed me and pulled me out of the way.

"He was conscious, I remember just turning around to see his face straight in front of me."


Her mother, who wished to remain anonymous, added: "She was just a yard from being hit. If she had stretched her arm out she would have been touching him. We don't know if it was deliberate. He was driving far too fast."

The family were last night interviewed by police officers, who took witness statements in a nearby cafe.

Four injured after taxi mounts pavement and hits pedestrians at tourist hotspot