Moscow accident taxi driver was ‘too tired’

Ataxi driver who ploughed into a Moscow pavement on the third day of the World Cup, injuring at least seven people, said in a video released by authorities yesterday he had been working for 20 hours solid before the incident.

The unnamed man said he had slept for only two or three hours before the shift and confused the brake and the accelerator, leading to an “unexpected” loss of control, according to the video on the website of the local interior ministry.

“I do not know how it happened,” he said, adding that he had not been drinking and was “very sorry”.

The man, who authorities earlier identified as a 28-year-old national of the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, said he ran from the scene fearing he would be killed there, before being taken into custody by police.

CCTV footage distributed on social media on Saturday showed the yellow cab turning right as it tried to pass some standing traffic on a one-way street near Red Square.

It accelerated as it reached the crowded pavement and drove a few metres before hitting a traffic sign and coming to a sharp halt.