Sheffield taxi driver hospitalised after horror smash hit-and-run in Ecclesfield

On Sunday, December 5, Aram Rashed, of Southey Green, spent the day with his wife Sarah and four children before leaving the house at 5pm to work a shift for Excel Taxis.

He was only out for an hour when Sarah received a harrowing phone call where she heard her husband ‘in a panic and hardly able to breathe’.

Aram had been the victim of a hit-and-run on Tunwell Avenue in Ecclesfield, which left his car in ruins and him so badly injured he was unable to work.

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Sarah said: “I thought would be his normal call asking how we all were at home but I was horribly wrong.

“He quickly said ‘I have had an accident, please come help me’ and hung up the phone.

"I started to panic and told our children to put their shoes and coats on and jump in our car. Then I remembered he hadn’t told us where he was.

“Luckily I could track him through Find My Friends. I opened the app and quickly found his location, then I started my car and headed to his aid.

“I turned onto Tunwell Avenue at Ecclesfield and could see hazard lights and lots of people standing around. I knew straight away this was his accident.

"I got closer and couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw a red Ford Fiesta with all airbags deployed, then I saw my husband’s car and instantly thought the worst.

"My husband’s Hyundai i40 was in a resident’s garden. All the driver side was caved in, all driver side airbags deployed, and pieces of car were all over the path and road.

"His car had been hit with such force he had span several times and gone straight through a couple of concrete posts and took down two fence panels.

“I pulled over in my car and raced over to my husband to find him sat on a piece of fence next to the passenger door with a blanket wrapped round him. He was shaking and was very pale.

"I leaned over and hugged and kissed him and told him that I was so happy that he was OK. How he was out of the car I really do not know even today I don’t know how he got out alive."

Residents of Tunwell Avenue had run out into the street and called the emergency services.

Within minutes the police were on the scene and the road was cordoned off as an investigation began.

However, the Fiesta’s doors were wide open and the driver had run away from the scene of the crash.

Sarah said: “As I was so busy making sure my husband was ok, I never even thought about the other car involved. But I asked my husband where is the driver of the Fiesta as the doors were open, and I was horrified to find out that the driver had fled the scene.

“They had done so not even knowing or seeing if anyone was injured, and didn’t stay and help.

“The Fiesta struck my husband at such high speed, failing to stop at a give way, then the driver flees the scene of an accident. I was totally disgusted.”

Sarah says that she took her husband to hospital following the crash, as they did not want to wait for an ambulance, which they were told would take an hour.

He was given painkillers and told he had damaged his ribs, and Sarah then took him home.

But his injuries have left him bedbound since the crash.

Sarah said: “The next day, my husband couldn’t even get out of bed. A man so independant and work-driven couldn’t even move.

“My husband is now without work and without a car. We have no income to our house. And my husband’s injuries are causing him so much pain that he cannot even do simple daily tasks, he cannot play with our children.

"He cannot sleep at night so is very exhausted. He is still suffering with chest, neck and hip pain. He had bleeding from his ear for four days.

"And the police have yet to find the driver of the Fiesta who fled the scene.”

Police are investigating the incident.

Anybody with any information can contact 101, quoting reference number 20211205/0729.