In the early evening on Saturday (24 October), officers received a call reporting that a man had stolen a taxi after he racially abused its driver, South Yorkshire Police say.
Barnsley South neighbourhood officers attended Tesco on Wombwell Road to obtain statements and CCTV footage of the incident. On CCTV they could see the man approach the store in his own vehicle, before approaching the customer service desk claiming he had ran out of diesel. From there, he rang a taxi.
As the taxi arrived, the man approached the vehicle and reportedly assaulted the driver, and shouted racist remarks. The man then jumped into the driver's seat when the driver got out, and stole the vehicle. The driver thankfully only suffered minor injuries.
With the whole incident caught on CCTV, the man was quickly identified, arrested and later charged with racially/religiously aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm, robbery, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He has been remanded until his next hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on 23 November.