Taxi driver's nightmare brings back bad memories for bashed cabbie

A taxi driver savagely beaten in Tauranga remains in hospital with horrific injuries and can only acknowledge friends and family with a grunt.
Suffering from fractures above the eye and head, it is understood doctors are hoping to get the 60-year-old Tauranga man stable enough to transfer him to Waikato Hospital for further treatment.
The Tauranga Mount Taxis driver was found covered in blood and staggering about in Matapihi in the early hours of Sunday. His last job had been at a 21st party about an hour earlier.
The brutal bashing has sparked concern among colleagues and brought back painful memories for 65-year-old Rex Fagan, a cabbie who was virtually blinded in 1996 after a hammer-wielding passenger pounded him over the head in Mount Maunganui.
That attack left Mr Fagan an invalid and, in his own words, it "ruined my life".
After the weekend's attack, Mr Fagan's wife has made several trips to Tauranga Hospital to visit the injured man.
"He just stares at you because he can't talk. He probably doesn't even know she's been there," he said.
In August 1996 Mr Fagan accepted a fare from two men. Minutes later he had a bag pulled over his head and was savagely beaten with a hammer.
In the months that followed, Mr Fagan endured 15 eye operations in a bid to save his sight.
He lost his left eye and his remaining eye has about a third vision - making him legally blind.
Mr Fagan said the life of a cabbie was tough and the industry could simply do without the fear of being violently assaulted.
"You're not out there at two in the morning just to be robbed, are you? You're out there to provide a service," he said. "You've taken them out and you're then obliged to take them home."
The 10-year taxi veteran said modern safety devices for drivers, such as GPS units, perspex screens and panic alarms offer little protection against premeditated attacks.
"As far as I'm concerned, all emergency systems are too late. In this case the poor bugger probably didn't have time to hit the panic button as the attackers would've already organised what they were going to do," he said.
The night assault on Mr Fagan came out of the blue.
"I knew I was in trouble but I didn't know I was going to get bloody bashed over the head with a hammer," he said. "In hindsight you could say it wouldn't happen again - but it would. Any protection is too late, they'll do it anyway."
Mr Fagan said that for the most part, being a cabbie was a fantastic job.
"You meet some nice and interesting people and it's just a good life."
But the threat of violence was simply a way of life for cabbies these days.
"It's changed and is following America now," he said.
It was common for passengers to argue aggressively over the cost of a ride and to "do the runner" without paying for the fare.
"The biggest fears of any cabbie is exactly what's happened to this chap," he said.
"It's a case of when are you going to get done over - there's no answer.
"He's the same age as me and he's been driving for 40 years and he would've certainly done all he could - it would've been a surprise thing."
Tauranga Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner said police were trying to locate and interview all of the 70-plus patrons of the Farm St 21st birthday party where the injured taxi driver picked up his last recorded job.
"We're confident the offender will be apprehended but it's just a matter of working through all those people - he'll pop up, I'm sure."
Mr Turner said the driver was still in a serious but stable condition in hospital and confirmed he was unable to speak. "I suspect it will be a couple of days away before we'll be able to talk to him," he said.
Meanwhile, police inquiries are continuing into the attack on a man and his 12-year-old son who were parked in a campervan on the side of the highway between Waihi and Tauranga early yesterday morning.
The man and his son were attacked by men armed with an iron bar and a tomahawk.
Police described the attack as a "cowardly act of needless violence" and say the victims are extremely traumatised as a result.