Taxi driver beaten and hospitalised by two thugs during theft of his vehicle

Detectives are appealing for witnesses to two incidents which led to a taxi driver in Leicestershire being assaulted after being pulled out of his taxi which was then stolen. At 10pm last night (Saturday 18 August) a man was sitting in his parked car on Narborough Road near Celt Street when he was threatened by two men who took his mobile phone. Five minutes after that at 10.05pm a taxi driver on the corner of Hinckley Road and Cranmer Street was approached by two men offering him a mobile phone. When he refused to buy it they dragged him out of his taxi, assaulted him and drove off in his vehicle. The vehicle was later found abandoned after it had been driven into a bus stop on Hinckley Road. The taxi driver was taken to the Leicester Royal Infirmary where he is being treated for a head injury but his injuries are not thought to be life threatening. Detective Sergeant Luke Wilsher said; “These incidents happened in a busy area of Leicester at 10pm on a Saturday night so there would have been lots of people around as well as motorists. We’d really like to speak to anyone in the area at the time who might have CCTV footage, dashcam footage or anyone who witnessed what happened. Did you see either of the two incidents or did you see the vehicle crashing into the bus stop? Did you record anything on your mobile phone that might be useful to us? “If you know who was responsible for subjecting this taxi driver to a nasty assault then we’d like to hear from you.” Anyone with any information is asked to call 101 using the reference number 18000393675