Police caution in question

Like many other people I have spoken to this weekend I was appalled by last week’s lead story in about a vicious assault upon a Ward Green taxi driver.

I was not surprised to read that this brutal attack had not only traumatised the driver but left him with a black eye and a broken nose which may well give him discomfort and pain for years to come. I was, however, very surprised to read that the police had let the perpetrator of this violent act off with no more than a caution. How more surprised I was than when I read the story of a 20-year-old female who spat at a police officer and was not only named and shamed but ended up behind bars for what her solicitor described as a ‘childish and foolish act’.

While I could never condone spitting at anyone, I’m sure it isn’t half as bad as having your nose broken. Surely at a time when the Prime Minister David Cameron has declared war upon drunken yobbish behaviour in our town centres, the police in South Yorkshire should not choose a softly-softly approach to a vicious assault upon a taxi driver.

Taxi drivers who, like the police, are so very often at the receiving end of this drink-fuelled bad behaviour need to know these acts will not be tolerated and will at least come to court.

Why one individual is let off with a mere caution and another is imprisoned for what appears a lesser offence we, may never know, but it does nothing to reassure the public about police impartiality.