Thug avoids prison after attacking taxi driver in Swanscombe - in a row over a tenner
09:41, 02 December 2009
updated: 09:54, 02 December 2009
A thug who left a taxi driver with a fractured skull in a dispute over a £10 fare has been spared jail.
Jobless James Legg’s victim was hospitalised after the drunken attack, in Swanscombe, and could not drive again for three weeks.
Dartford magistrates had warned the 22-year-old faced custody when he admitted causing grievous bodily harm in November after being identified using CCTV.
But Legg, of Trebble Road, Swanscombe, was given a 90-day suspended prison sentence on Monday.
He was on his way home from a night out in Gravesend with his girlfriend and another friend when they realised they would struggle to pay the £10 fare.
When the rest of the group scarpered, Legg panicked and lashed out. The taxi driver was “knocked off his feet” and fell backwards, hitting his head on the road.
The court heard the attack was not premeditated and there was no evidence Legg intended to hurt his victim in the early hours of August 23.
He even returned to the scene to check on the driver and later asked to meet him to apologise.
Latest news
Features
Most popular
- 1
‘Plumbers charged my elderly relatives £8,560 but settled on £765 when challenged’
22 - 2
Video captures panic as fireworks display goes wrong and ‘boy’s face burnt’
11 - 3
Where 11,000 new homes could be built in district
28 - 4
Family-run garage closes for final time after 92 years of trade
4 - 5
Kent pub 'surrounded by sheep' named one of UK's best to visit in autumn
3