Road rage knife attack
A London taxi driver was attacked with a craft knife after a road rage row over a parking space.
The driver was slashed across the chest in the dispute with the driver of a Smart car.
The attack happened in a busy street in west London at 5.30pm yesterday. Witnesses said the row started when the taxi accidentally scraped the Smart car as it drove down Kensington High Street.
Both vehicles were thought to be heading for the same parking space.
The drivers then got out of their cars and began a furious argument over who was to blame. As they were blocking traffic they got back in their cars and drove into Derry Street across the road.
They then got out of their cars to check the damage to the Smart car and continued the angry exchanges.
A police source said: "The taxi driver headbutted the driver of the Smart car and he then went and got a knife and attacked him."
Horrified shoppers called police, who arrested both men and sealed the road.
One witness said: "The taxi driver was sitting in his car clutching his shoulder which was bleeding heavily.
"His face was all screwed up and he looked like he was in a lot of pain. The other man didn't look too good either. His T-shirt and face were also covered in blood and he looked very dazed."
Another witness added: "I heard a lot of shouting and raised voices. The next thing I knew there were policemen everywhere. They put one of the men in the handcuffs and made him kneel in the middle of the road."
Paramedics put the taxi driver on a stretcher before taking him to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where he was treated for cuts to his chest.
He was under arrest last night at Notting Hill police station.
The driver of the Smart car was taken to Charing Cross Hospital where he was treated for cuts and bruises.
Last week a driver in Essex was beaten in the face and the chest with a hammer after a high-speed chase ended with his van on the roof of his attackers' car. The victim suffered a punctured lung as well as broken ribs and facial injuries.
