Taxi driver drove at family in rage over lollipop
Northumbria PoliceA taxi driver who turned a family's dinner outing into a "nightmare" when he deliberately drove at them and seriously injured a grandfather has been jailed for nine years.
Hasan Mohammed, 26, tried to mow down the group, which included a one-year-old child, after one of them threw a lollipop at his car to slow him down in Newcastle in September 2025, the city's crown court heard.
He narrowly missed several of them but struck one man, who had to have a prosthetic shoulder put in and said his life had been irrevocably changed.
Mohammed, from Newcastle, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving but was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and attempted wounding.
The family had just left a restaurant, where they had a weekly night out, on 14 September when Mohammed drove by in his taxi on his way home, Judge Edward Bindloss said.
Northumbria Police said he was travelling fast and one of the group threw a lollipop at his taxi to slow him down.
The sweet struck the vehicle enraging the driver, the court heard.
'Fear and confusion'
In an act of "road rage", Mohammed turned round and drove straight at the group as they crossed the road, reaching about 33mph before he ploughed into one man and narrowly avoided hitting two others, including a woman carrying a one-year-old child, the court heard.
Prosecutor Emma Dowling said the car weighed about one and a half tonnes and was a "highly dangerous weapon".
The man who was struck suffered multiple broken bones and had to have a prosthetic shoulder put in, the court heard.
In a statement read to the court, the man said he could recall hearing the sound of an engine and tyres as well as the "fear, confusion and impact".
He said he had "no time to react or protect" himself, and what had stayed with him was the knowledge his family, including his grandson, could have been killed.
"This was not an accident, it was a deliberate decision and I now live every day with the consequences," the man said.
He said he had been a proud independent man providing for his family, but his injuries had taken all that away from him.
'Ruined lives'
His daughter said: "What should have been a normal family outing turned into a nightmare."
She said she was "completely overwhelmed with fear and horror" seeing her father lying unconscious in a pool of blood in the road, adding his life had been totally "upended".
"Our lives will never be the same," she said.
One of the men who Mohammed narrowly avoided said a few seconds of "blind rage" would have lifelong consequences.
He said Mohammed had "ruined" the lives of the family and his own, but "for what".
Judge Bindloss said he accepted the incident was "out of character" for Mohammed and it would not have happened had his car not been struck by the sweet.
It was a "short lived road rage" that had had a "terrible effect on so many", the judge said.
Mohammed was also banned from driving for 12 and a half years and must pass an extended test.