Crawley cabbie tells of gun struggle

10:29am Friday 25th July 2008

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A cabbie told yesterday how he had a gun held to his head in the latest of a spate of attacks on taxi drivers.

Nasir Masood, 38, was called to a property in Crawley then targeted by robbers when he arrived.

Mr Masood, from the Broadfield area of the town, told The Argus: “He came out of the bushes by a house.

“He got in the cab and sat with his hood up, covering his face.

“He put a pistol against my head and said, ‘Give me the money’.”

Mr Masood struggled with the man, who eventually gave up and ran off.

He said: “I have a right to defend myself. If these mugs keep coming back, how are you going to survive in this world?”

Detectives have linked the incident to two successful hold-ups in the same area of the town over the past month.

About 80 taxi drivers attended a meeting with council staff and police to discuss the danger on the streets.

They demanded funding to put CCTV cameras in their cabs.

An offer of funding from Crawley Borough Council to help pay for CCTV has been on the table for a year.

But drivers say the systems the council is willing to fund are too expensive because of a requirement for high-quality encrypted systems that can be used as evidence in court.

Only four are thought to have taken up the council’s offer of £250 to pay half the cost of installing CCTV.

The drivers say they cannot afford to pay the rest of the money themselves and want to use the funding to buy lower-quality systems that could still identify suspects and act as a deterrent.

John Fraser, of the Crawley Licensed Drivers Association, said: “Violence against drivers has been growing.

“There have been lots of incidents in Crawley.

“Even if the cameras cannot be used as evidence of a crime, the deterrent effect is huge.”

The council’s position did not change after the meeting but it repeated its offer of £250 to fund 35 systems.

A spokesman described the meeting as productive.

He said: “The grants scheme that is available allows taxi drivers working unsociable hours to claim 50% of the CCTV system and installation costs.

“We still encourage taxi drivers to take advantage of this offer.”

On July 13, a driver was threatened by a man with a handgun in Barnfield Road, Northgate.

On July 11, a driver was robbed in identical circumstances in Woolborough Close, Northgate.

Police are linking those incidents to the attempted robbery on Mr Masood, on June 24, when he refused to hand over his takings after being called to Five Acres, Northgate.

• A 19-year-old man has been arrested and bailed over Mr Masood’s incident but police said further arrests could be made.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crawley CID on 0845 6070999 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.