A taxi driver claims he was viciously beaten by a passenger who then drove in his minibus with his "wailing" partner inside.
Joe Evans, 65, was left with suspected broken ribs and severe bruising to his head in a late-night attack on Anglesey, Wales Online reported.
The passenger at one point drove off in the taxi, Joe claims, leaving him stranded without his mobile phone on an unlit country road outside Menai Bridge.
He said said that after he began the six-mile walk back to his home in Llangefni, he again came across his attacker, who resumed the assault until Joe was finally rescued by his wife Helen and son Robert.
North Wales Police later arrested a 45-year man on suspicion of seven offences, including threats to kill.
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Helen said the man was “possessed”, while Joe said the episode was like nothing he had experienced in more than two decades of taxi work.
“He was crazy,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe what was going on.”
He now faces thousands of pounds of repairs to his Transit minibus and must buy a replacement key after his attacker threw away the original.
Joe, who is likely to be off work for several weeks, said the assault has made him reconsider his future.
“I’m 65 now and was beginning to think of retirement,” he said. “This may hasten that decision.”
As Joe suffered ill health during the first lockdown last year, wife Helen now manages bookings for their firm, Joe’s Taxis, a family business established in Llangefni in 2003.
She was due to take the 12.15am booking from a Christmas party but instead she passed the job to Joe when another call came in.
He said he sensed trouble when he saw the man berating his wife even before they set off.
Half-a-mile later, as the husband continued his onslaught, Joe asked the couple if they were OK.
“He was telling her, 'wait until you get home, you f***ing slag,'" claimed Joe.
“I was thinking that maybe it was best to separate them, for the wife to get in the front with me.
“But he turned to me and said, mind your own f***ing business, then told me to stop.”
Joe said the man got out and slammed the sliding door in the minibus so hard it was ripped off its runners, smashing into a rear panel above a wheel arch.
When he climbed out to inspect the damage at the back, he said the passenger nipped into the driver’s seat and sped off in the £40,000 eight-seater, bought just 12 months previously.
Stranded in the countryside, with no alternatives, Joe shrugged his shoulders and began walking home.
A quarter of a mile later, over the brow of the hill, he spotted the minibus parked up.
Relief was tempered by renewed anxiety as, in the darkness, he saw a figure leaving the minibus and striding towards him.
“He approached me shouting, 'I’m going to kill you, I’m strong, I’m going to kill you' over and over again,” claimed Joe, who asked the man to return his keys.
“He kept on ranting and kicking. He was like a wild man, like he was psychotic," he said.
Police arrived after Helen came in her Taxi, and officers advised Joe to seek medical attention. Helen took him to hospital.
Police deployed sniffer dogs but drew a blank in their search for Joe’s minibus keys. He must now buy and reprogramme another set which, he said, will cost £500.
He estimates repairs to the minibus will cost several thousand more, a large expense considering taxi insurance comes with a £1,000 excess.
North Wales Police said that, following the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning, a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of seven alleged crimes. He's currently on bail.
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