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Vancouver Police have charged a 29-year-old man after violently assaulting a cab driver earlier this week over a $5 fare.

Police say Ranjit Singh Shergill, a Yellow cab driver, picked up a fare of three women and a man on Granville Street near Davie on Sunday morning around 1 a.m. Shergill drove the group to an apartment on Drake Street and Marinaside Crescent, where they got into a dispute over the $5.40 cab fare.

Police say the man, Lloyd Peter Robinson, allegedly punched Shergill, before kicking and stomping on his face as he lay unconscious on the ground.

Several witnesses heard the altercation and saw Robinson run off after the attack.

Yesterday afternoon, Vancouver Police arrested Robinson. He is facing charges of aggravated assault and he remains in custody until his next court appearance.

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According to Shergill, the attack wasn’t over money, he believes it was racially motivated.

“They were saying to him so many things about our nationality… that we should go back home,” says Rajwant Kuar, Shergill’s wife.

The senseless crime has left Shergill with serious injuries that required surgery – his upper jaw is wired together and a metal plate has been inserted in his face to rebuild his broken cheek and eye socket. He was released from hospital on November 22 and is now at home recovering.

“These guys are just out there trying to make an honest living, trying to feed their families and put their kids through school just like everyone else is,” says Carolyn Bauer, Yellow Cab General Manager. “They just don’t deserve this kind of brutality.”

The cab company is collecting funds to help support the Shergill family through their ordeal and while the video camera system in the vehicles have cut down crime – and helped catch Shergill’s attacker – they’re still looking at new safety features.

“In Toronto they have on the back of the cabs a plate, that has an emergency light so the driver could press that emergency light,” explains Yellow Cab President Kulwant Sahota. “[The light] would indicate that this particular driver does have an emergency.”

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With Shergill off work recovering from his injuries, his wife Rajwant has had to take off work to care for him since he can’t chew and can only have liquids. Even though Shergill says he could be off work for months, he does plan to drive cab again.

“What else can I do?”

Vancouver Police Department press conference on the attack:

~ with files from John Daly and Peter Meiszner