Taxi driver calls police after noticing knife on sleeping passenger

The terrified cabbie spotted the weapon beside the passenger on the back seat

A taxi driver had to call the police on his sleeping passenger after noticing that he had a knife with him on the backseat. Nottinghamshire Police officers reached through an open taxi window to grab the knife before waking up the passenger, who went on to assault police and verbally abuse them.

The incident took place on Rossell Drive in Stapleford at around 7.15pm last Sunday (October 13). Lewis Thompson, of no fixed address, was also found with cannabis in his possession and a check of the police system found he was wanted in connection with a Nottingham city centre bar assault which left a man with facial injuries.

Thompson was later charged with possessing a knife in a public place, assault, assaulting an emergency worker, and resisting arrest. He was also charged with possessing cannabis, as well as using threatening/abusive words/behaviour to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.

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Thompson pleaded guilty to each offence at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (October 15) and has been remanded in police custody. He is due to be sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on November 26.

Sergeant James King, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "It's fair to say Thompson wasn't too impressed about being woken up by police and placed under arrest. The violence and aggression he demonstrated while this was taking place was completely unacceptable – as was his decision to be carrying a knife that night.

"There is absolutely no excuse for anyone to ever carry a kitchen knife out in public, as Thompson was doing, for the obvious reason that it puts people in danger. The taxi driver did the right thing by calling the police when they saw he had a weapon.

"It also turned out that Thompson was responsible for carrying out an assault a few months earlier, so this proved to be a great result all-round. We're pleased to see he’s owned up to his actions and look forward to seeing what sentence is handed down to him by the court."