Taxi driver is fined over 95mph chase

A WOMAN told a court how she endured a terrifying high-speed taxi journey.

She said the driver overtook cars while doing around 90mph on roads with a 60mph limit.

John Krenski, 61, denied driving dangerously at speeds of more than 90mph and overtaking cars forcing them to take evasive action, driving without a taxi licence, and having defects on his vehicle, but was found guilty of all charges after a trial at Stirling Sheriff Court.

Police said they struggled to keep up with him and when they finally did he told them he was speeding because he was ‘late to pick up his next fare’.

Giving evidence, witness Hayleigh Sillars said she and her friend Lisa Archibald were heading from Lisa’s home in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, to Stirling for a night out on December 20 last year when their driver started to speed in the dark on wet roads.

She said: ‘I remember Lisa pointing at the speedometer and we both saw what speed he was doing. It was between 90 and 95mph.’

Their journey was brought to a stop when Krenski was pulled over by the police.

Police constable David Reid, 29, said: ‘I was driving my police vehicle at its limits to keep up with him.’

Sheriff Gilchrist banned Krenski, of Alloa, from driving for a year and fined him £500.