Harpreet Singh Mattar was attacked during a late night shift in Lower Hutt near Wellington in New Zealand.
The incident occurred at around 3 am last Friday when the 31-year-old taxi driver picked a passenger from the Queensgate Shopping Centre who asked to be dropped outside a house on Collingwood Street, minutes away from the mall.
Mr Mattar who works for Hutt and City Taxis told SBS Punjabi that the short ride turned ugly when at the end of the trip, the passenger reached into his bag and pulled out a knife and held it to his throat.
“At first, I was obviously shocked, but then reacted quickly as soon as I felt the metal on my throat. He was asking for money,” he told SBS Punjabi.
Mr Mattar, who has been driving a taxi for the past three years added that his first instinct was to protect himself.
"I just had to save myself, I didn't care about anything else at the time,” he added.
After struggling for a few seconds, the cabbie claimed that he managed to flee from his own vehicle and kept running until he spotted another taxi parked outside a house, just a block away.
“I knocked on the car and the driver in the car who also happened to work with the same company as mine made me sit in his cab and drove me to the point where my car was parked,” said Mr Mattar.
“But when we reached, the assailant had already fled with over $300 that he had stolen from my car,” he added.
The duo then called the police and informed them about the incident.
Mr Mattar was rushed to hospital where he was given medical treatment and was discharged a short while later.
The father of two claimed he is now due for a surgery to fix his nose.
“The doctor told me that I would require surgery to fix the dislocation in my nasal bone,” said Mr Mattar.
Originally from Bathinda in the north Indian state of Punjab, he initially arrived in Australia as a student, but later shifted to New Zealand after spending seven years in Melbourne.
“As a driver, I have experienced several instances but none, where I would feel my life, was in danger."
“I am now scared for my safety,” added Mr Mattar who said that as a result of the incident he has stopped driving at night.
Meanwhile, the Wellington police has released an image of the alleged offender and is seeking help from the public to identify the man.
The police has described the man as being medium to solid build. He was wearing a black cap over a white hooded sweatshirt, a dark coloured jacket on top and light-coloured trousers at the time of the attack.
"This is a callous attack on a hard-working taxi driver and I want to assure the community we are taking this very seriously and doing everything we can," Detective senior sergeant Martin Todd said in a press release.
Safety concerns:
The incident has once again spurred concerns about the safety of taxi drivers, particularly those who work late hours.
Nelson Manak, the chairman of Hutt and City Taxis where Mr Mattar works told SBS Punjabi that safety of the drivers is considered a priority within the company, but the ‘uncertainty and risks’ involved in the job cannot be ruled out completely.
“We have cameras installed in all the cars and help is always available to our drivers. Safety of the drivers is of paramount importance to us,” Mr Manak told SBS Punjabi.
“But the taxi industry has its own problems. The risk is always there, you never know who is sitting in the car with what intentions,” he added.
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