Lockwood taxi driver Stephen Wilson left brain damaged after shoe attack

Aug 1 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CABBIE Stephen Wilson’s life was wrecked when he was attacked with a shoe by an angry woman reveller.

The assault led to a serious brain injury after he collapsed and hit his head outside a nightclub.

He was left unable to speak, read or write and had to give up his driver’s licence because he could no longer control a car.

Now his wife, Yvonne, has signed up for a fundraising skydive for the group that is helping him rebuild his life.

The woman who attacked Mr Wilson, 54, nearly 18 months ago has never been found.

Mr Wilson, of Yew Green Avenue, Lockwood, who was also a qualified engineer, said: “I will never get back to normal. I will never be able to drive or operate industrial machinery.

“I have got the desire to work, but not the control of my functions.

“It has been horrible.”

Mr Wilson’s life changed forever on February 15 last year, when he was working as a taxi driver in Leeds.

He was involved in an argument with a customer outside the Halo nightclub in Leeds city centre after he went to return a mobile phone she had left in his car.

A friend of the woman slapped Mr Wilson in the face before taking off a shoe and smacking him in the head.

He fell and hit his head on the pavement, causing trauma to the back of his brain.

“When I came round, I remember the bouncers asking me if I needed an ambulance, but I said: ‘I’ve got a taxi.’

“I drove to Leeds General Infirmary, but by the time I got there, I had lost the ability to communicate and they couldn’t understand me.”

He left Leeds and drove back to Huddersfield along the hard shoulder of the M62 before being treated in hospital.

His condition continued to deteriorate over the following months.