Brother ‘very proud’ of hijacked taxi driver

CRIME: Brave cabbie who alerted police to Kirkcaldy bank raid ‘distraught’

A brother of the taxi driver hijacked in the Kirkcaldy bank raid has spoken of his pride at his sibling’s bravery.

Michael Rankin praised the actions of Alistair, 46, who was forced to drive to the Bank of Scotland and tell staff he had a bomb.

Police had publicly applauded the Cowdenbeath cabbie’s courage and said his control of the situation alerted them quickly to what was going on.

Yesterday Michael told The Courier: “I’m very proud of my little brother.”

He refused to speak further about the ordeal, which is understood to have left Alistair, known to friends as Bongo, extremely shaken.

However, he also expressed his pride on Facebook adding “well done Bongo”.

Friends replied, voicing their admiration for Mr Rankin’s bravery and concern for his wellbeing.

Brenda Fyfe wrote: “He doesn’t deserve anything like that … he’s such a lovely man.”

Mr Rankin and his family have stayed away from their Broad Street home since the robbery on Wednesday, only returning to collect some belongings.

A neighbour said she had chatted with his wife Tracey on Thursday morning when she returned to the cul-de-sac briefly. She said: “I spoke to Tracey and she said he was distraught.”

A man also returned to the semi-detached property yesterday morning with a large backpack and said Mr Rankin did not want to speak to the press.

Mr Rankin told police the suspect hailed his hire car on The Avenue in Lochgelly and handed him a holdall – which the robber told him was loaded with a fake explosive – and a note ordering him to rob the Carberry Road bank.

Superintendent Derek McEwan said police were initially alerted to the robbery as a “direct result” of Mr Rankin’s actions, although it remains unclear how he was able to signal to staff he was under duress.

“What happened within the bank is still under investigation and naturally we are speaking to the staff there,” he said. “During the interaction between the taxi driver and members of the banking staff, it became apparent there was a risk involved.

“I can’t go into detail surrounding the content of the note. It may come out in due course but it was clearly something which caused the staff to provide a certain amount of money to the taxi driver.”

The suspect – described as 5ft 6in tall, of heavy build and wearing a dark green baseball cap, a dark green scarf, a thick dark blue jacket, tracksuit bottoms and sunglasses – is still at large, though the four-figure sum taken from the bank was recovered almost immediately after the incident by police.

Meanwhile, a reward of up to £25,000 is being offered by the British Bankers Association for information leading to the arrest of the man.

Michael Rankin, right, has hailed the bravery of his brother Alistair.