BATTLING taxi driver Alex McIlveen faced down the Glasgow Airport terror suspects ... and his courage cost him his favourite pair of trainers and a £30 parking fine. Dad-of-two Alex punched and kicked the two men after they crashed a Jeep Cherokee loaded with gas canisters into the door of Terminal One. The 45-year-old booted one of the suspects, whose body was covered in flames, as hard as he could between the legs. But the man didn't appear to feel the blow, and a police doctor told Alex later that he'd damaged a tendon in his foot.
After the drama, police confiscated Alex's trainers for forensic tests. And when he went back to the airport to pick up his cab, he was stunned to find that he'd been given a parking ticket. Alex said: "The police took all the clothes I 'd been wearing so I lost my Nike trainers. They're a good pair too.
"I didn't get out of the police station until late on Saturday night and I found the parking ticket on my cab next day. I couldn't believe it." Alex, of Glasgow, was one of several hero Scots who took on the men who targeted the airport on Saturday afternoon. He punched and kicked the passenger from the Jeep, believed to be Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla.
political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Kicking the Terrorists Where It Hurts
THIS is the sort of authoritarian action I thoroughly approve of taking against terrorists.
I'd like to say that I don't believe that the Police wouldn't be so stupid, but I do indeed find it all too believable!
ReplyDeleteThis time without the double negative.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to say that I don't believe that the Police would be so stupid, but I do indeed find it all too believable!
Och u dunoo take that you terrorist right wear it hurt in the nut. In Glasgow that is oral sex.
ReplyDelete:
http://www.lonympics.co.uk/Trade%20Doubler.htm
Shouldn't this man be given a medal?
ReplyDeleteIf the Police were half as assiduous and numerous as Traffic wardens at apprehending felons on the street we wouldn`t have a Terrorist problem or much crime .
ReplyDeleteAs it is they sit around defrauding their PA scheme and waiting to return at 35. The last unreformed Public Service as David Cameron put it.
On Scottish Oral sex I think that cosists of saying " All this Oil belongs to me .... oh god oh god OH OOOOOOH"
*lights fag*
How is a traffic warden supposed to know why a car has been left somewhere illegally (although in the aftermath of a terrorist attack you'd think they'd be a bit lenient)? I wonder if the cabbie bothers to appeal the ticket - if he was then still fined, then that would be a story....
ReplyDeleteHmm.. perhaps Mr Smeaton can donate one of his pints to help cheer the poor man up ?
ReplyDeleteIain, let us not forget that it was one of these self-same nasty parking warden types who was the hero of the hour in London. Cometh the hour, cometh the man - and if there had been a car full of propane canisters near Mr Barefoot's car, he might have thanked Providence that an eagle-eyed parking attendant had been in the vicinity.
Not a heroic action to kick anyone lying on the ground in flames. Call it 'punishment' but heroics it ain't. Tackling an armed terrorist or gangster, now thats heroic.
ReplyDeleteIt so reminds me one of the game situations in the Kingdom of Loathing game: "You kick some troll butt hard. Eww. You need new boots now."
ReplyDeleteThe shoes should be preserved for prosperity and put on display in a museum :>
And yeah, the Glasgow heros should be given a proper medal by the Queen for their bravery.
newmania as ever trying to score an anti-Scot point out of a good news story. You're just jealous about Scotland's oil newmania.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, those pedants who fail to see the irony in the man having his car ticketed and then complaining about it. Irony. Perhaps it's not just oil that England lacks! :-)
P.S. Word verification 'ecyfwtgk' - which is an abbreviation for 'get tae f*** ya southern nancies' :-)
Isn't anybody else fascinated by quite how enjoyable we find news of this man (and another) kicking the crap out of some terrorists. We relish every fricking punch and kick.
ReplyDeleteThey don't like it up 'em.
Frankly I'm surprised he hasn't been charged with racially aggravated assault, such is the state of policing in the Uk today.
ReplyDeleteIt's the sort of authoritarian action I thoroughly approve of taking against traffic wardens, too...
ReplyDeleteHmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteScroll down to the bottom of the page in the link and you get a headline that says
NEW PM BROWN OUTCLASSES THE COMMONS CLOWN
Obviously there is a Scot version of PMQ that is different to the rest of the UK
Glasgow
ReplyDeleteThe only city in the world where the locals would pull a man from a burning car simply to kick the s*** out of him
More brainless parking robots. If you think that the parking wardens in London were heros, you need a brain transplant.
ReplyDelete0230 - stick a ticket on a Merc, near to the car bomb on Haymarket. Funny - same sort of car as well....
0330 tow it off and wonder about the gas smell...ignore the fact there's something on the back seat covered with a blanket...
Next Day: leave it parked outside the Park Lane underground car park, even after the media is full of the story of the other Merc bomb...
And the police were clearly not alerted as it took until 4.00pm - almost 18 hours - for them to finally track the towed-off Merc bomb.
As I said, parking wardens are trained to see nothing, think nothing and say nothing...They should have had the arses kicked out town over the Merc bomb incident.
If they were also involved in catching untaxed, uninsured and mis-registered cars they might be worth something. But they're not.
Nice to know that the Strathweegie Traffic Wardens can be every bit as stupit as their English colleagues.
ReplyDeleteMind you the local Social Workers are no doubt demanding the Taxi Driver and Mr.Smeaton be prosecuted
All Mr Alex McIlveen has to do now is to write an unreadable novel and he will get a gong for sure.
ReplyDeleteOnly in Glasgow would suicide bombers need police protection!
Get intae them!
My hero!
ReplyDeleteI hope is tendon gets sorted soon and the powers that be write off that parking ticket.
ReplyDeletewasn't the man on fire lurching towards other stunned bystanders?
ReplyDeleteI only bring this up because if so, then he had to be stopped.
Yes, it is barbaric and unxivilised
but
if you saw a terrorist trying to kill and maim your family/workmates/friends
it might be a natural reaction, after all he didn't have any mercy or compassion for the men, women and children he was trying to kill.
Its all very well to pontificate in a safe environment but in the front line its a wee bit different!
So it's your third attempt at car-bombing. You've failed again, you're on the ground and you're on fire.
ReplyDeleteYou offer up a prayer for help and guidance and the next thing you know, a Glaswegian cabbie is booting you in the nuts.
If Heineken did terrorism, it would probably be something like this.
Oh, for heaven's sake1 He won't have to pay the ticket! How was the parking attendant to know the driver had gone to the aid of passengers?
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed a pleasure to hear of Mr Smeaton kicking the terrorist while he burned. If charged, he can say he was trying to stomp the flames out.
By the way, when the ambulance service turned up, the crowd were shouting, "Let them burn!" which shows their hearts, too, were in the right place.
Is that one in intensive care dead yet? Eyewitnesses said there were bits dropping off him. Well, he'd just had an emotional experience and he was in pieces.
Just wait for the trial! You can bet the Islamists brief will bring up the violence against him and how cruel it was to beat up a man on fire! and that nasty copper who cuffed the Islamist will cop it for being too rough! I see the Isalmist being up for a tasty bit of compo from the CICB all this AND free NHS treatment so no doubt some wounded jock squaddie will get pushed to the back of the NHS queue!
ReplyDeleteAll these guys (plus the staff who worked their guts out to get the airport up and running again) deserve praise.
ReplyDeleteHow many of us would have taken on a potential suicide bomber in these circumstances?
Someone's set up a website for the baggage hero...www.johnsmeaton.com
Baggage hero? I thought Mr Smeaton was the taxi driver ...
ReplyDeleteI assume that in the same spirit all the NHS doctors involved in this episode will be suspended on full pay for a year or so while enquries are under way.
ReplyDeleteI'd have thought someone could have Pi"?ed on him to try to put the flames out?
ReplyDeleteNEWS FLASH: Liverpool Airport closed tonight!
ReplyDeletePolice found a suspicious car in the car park. It had tax, insurance, a set of wheels and the radio was still in the dashboard!
The BBC interview:
ReplyDelete"So, Mr Smeaton, have you got a message for the terrorist fringe?"
"Aye, I do. This is Glasgow; don't come here; we will set about you."
Guts. Superb.
The Hitch said...
ReplyDeleteTake a hike fatty.Remember a barrel of lard a day keeps the doctor away.
Alex McIlveen - a real braveheart! Give him a medal - and cancel his parking fine. UK surely isn't that hard up, Mr Broon, despite your attempts to bankrupt us.
ReplyDeleteAuntie Flo'
verity said...Eyewitnesses said there were bits dropping off him. Well, he'd just had an emotional experience and he was in pieces.
ReplyDeleteGod your a sick woman.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteAlex McIlveen - a real braveheart! Give him a medal - and cancel his parking fine. UK surely isn't that hard up, Mr Broon, despite your attempts to bankrupt us.
Auntie Flo'
Grow up woman.
Also, hats off to the Glasgow Muslim Group and Council of British Muslims for their clear condemnation of the attempts.
ReplyDeleteHitch - too true. The most feared words in the "English" language are: " Hey Jimmy - see you." Been known to clear a pub in 3 seconds flat.
ReplyDeleteMelanie said...
ReplyDeleteAll these guys (plus the staff who worked their guts out to get the airport up and running again) deserve praise.
Yep, salt of the earth.Always thought that.Baggage handlers a true calling.Always been my ambition to be a heroic baggage handler.Bless them all I say.Miners they are also pretty damned heroic though,what about a mention for heroic taxi drivers.You've just got to love them.They are the folk who made us all what we are today.Heroic bloggers,let's not forget heroic bloggers,loads posting here today I see.God bless you all.
Melanie said...
ReplyDeleteAlso, hats off to the Glasgow Muslim Group and Council of British Muslims for their clear condemnation of the attempts.
I doubt there are many groups who have not received your fulsome praise today Melanie.
Anonymous, very funny comments. I was quite taken by this chap's approach I must say.
ReplyDeleteThis guy could have stopped them from detonating their gear.
ReplyDeleteMelanie
ReplyDeleteI find it sickening that we have become such putrid invertebrate pond scum that we swoon when some Mulsims condemn random slaughter .
Wooopeee f.....ing do. Why is it that the only people with "Hearts and minds" are the ones throwing bombs at us?
Newmania said...
ReplyDeleteMelanie
Stop picking on Melanie,and don't use foul language to a lady you ingrate.Having looked at your last couple of postings I suggest you give the drink a day off you imbecile.
Anonymous 8:50 - Thank you for a very funny post! Genuine laugh out loud quality.
ReplyDeleteRe Baggage handlers and airport staff
ReplyDeletedidn't a large majority of them get made redundant today because of 'out sourcing'?
Great country we live in!
Again I'm proud to announce that, "I belong to Glasgow, Dear Old Glasgow Town..." ... the 'Dear Green Place'; the 'Cradle of the Industrial Revolution'; the 'Workshop of the World'; the 'Second City of the British Empire': that's what Glasgow has been. And as Jack House, in his book "The Heart of Glasgow" puts it in his very opening sentence, "The City of Glasgow is without question the greatest city in the world."
ReplyDeleteHow Glaswegians reacted on Saturday was no great surprise to those of us who know--who really know--Glasgow. But then I do because, "Glasgow Belongs to Me."
pensioners rule o.k. said etc.
ReplyDeleteYawn...Spare me the tragic faux chivalry you virtual old goat.. The spectacle of a gnarled Satyr lasciviously trying to impress a young woman may be eternal but no less ridiculous for that. You are an old joke , just as boring and with the manners of bumptious Library assistant.
Tiresome nit
Normally - I would agree that booting a bomber is rewardable with a gong, however.... (and I can feel Verity rising already)
ReplyDelete1. At the time he starting doing a morris dance on this guys bollocks, how did he 'know' he was a terrorist, rather than a guy who had just perhaps crashed his car. Did the guy jump out of the car shouting 'die infidels' (or whatever car bombers shout at such times).
2. wouldn't it be a natural response for a civilised person to attempt to put the flames out (unless of course it was a traffic warden on fire, in which case, pass the petrol) rather than stick the boot in? I saw someone trapped in a burning car once - and it was genuinely a truly horrid expereince (more for him than me admitedly).
3. The next time I accidently crash my car, it busrts into flames and I jump out on fire, I hope it isn't at Glasgow airport!
Of course, if the guy did jump out with a triger in one hand and a Koran in the other - then he got what he deserved, and probably a lot less!
PS - I fear the comment about buring traffic wardens might come back to haunt me (is there a specific 'incitment to burn traffic wardens' crime n the statute books yet?)
BTW- On Language I take my cue from our beloved host
ReplyDelete"Big ****ing deal. Mine probably are/were too. Ooooh. Big conspiracy."
Shocking
Adrain Yellowand: "1) how did he 'know'?"
ReplyDeleteWell duh! I'm sure it wouldn't take most of us too long to discern the difference - and fortunately in this case, those who figured it out sharpish were are also courageous enough to step in and do their best to stop the terrorists dastardly plan.
Adrain Yellowand: "2)..."
Well duh again.
Adrain Yellowand: "3)..."
Ho ho ho, how funny. Go on, have a go at those who showed the world how to deal with terrorist scum.
Adrain Yellowand: "I suppose..."
Well, you obviously didn't bother to read the rest of the article Iain linked to (or any other accounts of what went on at GLA), otherwise your comments wouldn't be so lucicrously uninformed.
As for your comments about traffic wardens, thank you for demonstrating your immaturity so succinctly - it almost saved me the bother of rebutting the rest of your moronic twaddle.
While we're at it, newmania, you are such a pathetic, bigoted boor. Here's hoping that you taste some of your own bile some time soon and thus cease to bother the rest of us with your ignorant drivel.
Either that or confine your posting to the first half-hour after you wake in the morning - before you get your daily beer buzz clouding your judgement.
Surprising that he hasn't been charged with racially-aggravated assault and had DNA samples taken.
ReplyDeleteThat might come later - he challenged the police monopoly and they don't like that -
Adrian Yelland - Re your silly post, not everyone in the world is English. There is a country to the north called Scotland. Guess what! Morris dancing is an English aberration. The suggestion that a Glasgwegian did a Morris dance on a terrorist is so embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteAY follows up his gaffe with this zinger: "3. The next time I accidently crash my car, it busrts into flames and I jump out on fire, I hope it isn't at Glasgow airport!"
Frankly, I hope it is.
I think their might be political capital to be made by honouring this man and the others who stood up and were counted.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the government can't see it and battle the traffic wardens for a repeal of the ticket, then the opposition should make headway by offering to pay the fine for him on the grounds that they, at least, recognise that Britain is on this man's side.
As for revelling in the guy getting one in the proverbials: all I can say is that history has tought the world that it is okay to do bad things to bad people. Holywood says it, Islamists say it and deep down every political angle is about convincing people that you are the good guys and they are the bad guys.
So while I take no pleasure in kicking a man in the nuts, I remain glad that someone gave this man the nut-kicking he earned when he tried to murder hundreds of innocent people.