8:28am Friday 12th March 2010
By Michael Purton
A TAXI driver who suffered a fractured skull when he was attacked by a passenger has described his ordeal.
Gravesend driver Gordon Bailey, 64, was punched and kicked in the head by 23-year-old Mark Heanan.
Heanan, from Edenbridge, was given an indeterminate jail sentence and told he must serve a minimum of three years, seven months and seven days when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on March 5 after admitting wounding with intent.
CCTV inside Mr Bailey's cab recorded the attack, and the footage was shown in court.
Describing the assault on July 13 last year, grandfather-of-four Mr Bailey told News Shopper: “I picked up Heanan from the Railway Tavern in Sole Street at around 10.45pm and he asked to be taken to Paddock Wood.
“I suspected something was wrong with him because he asked me to turn the CCTV inside the cab off, but I told him I couldn't.
“We got to Kent Close in Paddock Wood at around 11.30pm and I put the handbrake on, turned around and he instantly leapt from the back into the passenger seat.
“He demanded the keys for the car and I didn't have a chance to refuse because he just punched me in the face."
Mr Bailey added: “Then he was trying to get me out of the car, and I was leaning on the horn to sound it.
“He got me out of the car and was kicking and punching me in the head outside the car, and we ended up at the rear of the car and it was all caught on camera.
“People in Kent Close heard the car horn and came out to see what was going on.
“Then Heanan took the takings for the night, around £100, and ran off.”
Kent Close residents called the emergency services and an ambulance took Mr Bailey to hospital in Tunbridge Wells.
His wife of 43-years, Sandra Bailey, said: “When I saw him I felt weak-legged because blood was coming out of him and he was going in and out of consciousness.”
The 64-year-old added: “I did not know whether he was going to survive.
“He had a scan that night at around 1am and the doctors told me he was going to be OK, and I was so relieved.”
Doctors told Mr Bailey, of Bourne Road, that another kick to the head could have killed him.
He said: “I had a broken nose and lost the cartilage in it, fractured cheekbones, fractures on my forehead and bruising all over my body.
“I still have dents on my face. My cheekbones are still broken.”
Mr Bailey has been a taxi driver for 26 years and says the attack will not stop him working as a cabbie.
He said: “I went back to work on August 3 because I have to make a living.
“I had to pick myself up, dust myself down and get on with life.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/trade_directory/