HEATHROW TAXI TRAGEDY: Flowers left and funeral funds raised for cab driver who died at airport

Taxi drivers have been leaving flowers at Heathrow Airport in memory of a fellow cabbie who sadly passed away at the airport earlier this week.

A fund has also been set up to help pay for the taxi driver’s funeral costs which has already hit an astonishing £5,950 as of 7pm Saturday 15 May.

The news comes after police and ambulance services were called out to the Heathrow taxi rank feeder park on Newall Road at around 4pm on Wednesday 12 May. A man, aged in his 50’s and a licensed black cab driver, was found and pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Metropolitan Police sources the incident is not being treated as suspicious. Taxi drivers at the scene of the incident said the man was a licensed taxi driver and was known to have slept in his taxi whilst waiting for his next fare at the airport.

Taxi drivers in the capital, and throughout the UK, have been hit hard financially due to coronavirus related travel restrictions.

In November TaxiPoint reported that the number of black cabs passing through the airport's feeder park was down 96 percent on figures in April, May and June 2019. It picked up slightly in July when it was down 90 percent and in August and September down 83 percent. As new restrictions were introduced in October it fell again, down 85 percent on the previous year.

Back in October the average waiting time for a fare at Heathrow was a huge nine hours from the time the driver entered the waiting area for the terminal taxi rank known as the ‘Feeder Park’, until being dispatched to the terminal itself.

According to The Mirror, the taxi driver was said to have been found dead in a sleeping bag. The driver may have been dead at the scene for three days whilst cabbies working the airport sleep at the feeder park rank to make a living during the pandemic.

On Wednesday a Metropolitan Police spokesperson told TaxiPoint: “Police were called shortly after 16:01hrs on Wednesday 12 May to Newall Road, near Heathrow following reports of an unresponsive man in a car.

“Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and a man in his 50s was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.

“Enquiries are ongoing to trace the man’s next of kin.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We were called at 3.55pm 12 May to reports of an incident on Newall Road, near Heathrow.

"We sent an ambulance crew, a medic in a car, and an incident response officer.

"Sadly, a man had died at the scene."

A Heathrow spokesperson also told TaxiPoint: “We are aware of and saddened by this incident. Our teams are on hand to support with any Police enquiries.”