Taxi driver tells of role in police chase

Press, 18 December 1989, Page 1

Taxi driver tells of role in police chase

By

BARRY CLARKE

The taxi driver whose actions led to the capture of a man who allegedly held up a suburban T.A.B. agency on Saturday evening was yesterday playing down his role in the drama. Mr Kevin Hobson, aged 39, chased stolen get-away cars through city streets for several minutes after the Merivale branch of the T.A.B. was robbed at gunpoint just after 7 p.m. The Blue Star owner-operator relayed to the police through his control centre where the alleged robber and an accomplice were going. The pair abandoned a vehicle at Riccarton BuSh and made off on foot after the police, using dogs and a helicopter had swooped on the area.

One man was caught by a dog. He was later treated for bite wounds to the leg. Ah air pistol and $l7OO, believed to have been stolen from the T.A.8., were recovered nearby. The second man escaped.

Mr Hobson said the pursuit was “something which just had to be done,” after the police had praised him for his actions.

“I was going into town with a couple of passengers. As I went past the T.A.B. I saw a guy running in with a hood over his head,” said Mr Hobson. “I said to my customers, ‘I think that guy’s going to rob the T.A.B.’ ”

Mr Hobson did a U-turn, drove past the agency, at the corner of Papanui Road and Leinster Road, and stopped near a utility vehicle

the man had got out of. “He then came running out and drove off. He took off very rapidly. I tailed him from about 50m behind. I threw the couple in the back a pen and told them to write the registration number down.”

The vehicle travelled along Leinster Road, into Allister Avenue and into Heaton Street. It then drove into Elmwood Park, where another vehicle, a stolen Hyundai, and another man were waiting.

Mr Hobson stayed on Heaton Street during the transfer of vehicles, before resuming the chase.

He said the Hyundai was driven at normal speed to Wroxton Terrace.

“They realised I was chasing them. They powered it on. The guy who was driving kept on looking back. When they went across the railway crossing they nearly became airborne.” Mr Hobson said he did not get too close in case they were armed. “I had passengers. I had to look after their safety. Me, I don’t mind a bit of excitement.” The men in the Hyundai lost the taxi in the Snowdon RoadFendalton Road area. However, one of six other taxis which were on the lookout spotted the car in Kahu Road, near Riccarton House. “When I got into Kahu Road, they were going up the drive into Riccarton Bush,” he said.

The police, also at the scene, caught one of the men in seconds, said Inspector Pat Kavanagh. The drama from the time the T.A.B. was robbed lasted less than seven minutes, he said. The young couple in the taxi, who had been on their way to a Christmas function, were transferred to another car, to complete their journey. “I said to them afterwards I was sorry they had to get involved. They didn’t seem to mind,” said Mr Hobson. A man, aged 34, will appear in the District Court today, charged

with aggravated robbery using an air pistol. Mr Hobson is no stranger to danger. In September last year he had a scrape with a passenger, who had run from the taxi without paying. Mr Hobson found the man a short distance away playing a video game in a Papanui hamburger bar. The culprit ran through the back of the shop, but found the exit locked. Mr Hobson grabbed him by the neck as he tried to get away, but released him when he grabbed a knife on the counter. The man was caught later by the police and dealt with by the courts.