Calls for more to be done to tackle racism in Teesside
Today marks 15 years since a taxi driver was attacked in Middlesbrough
Last updated 10th Jul 2026
There are calls for even more to be done to tackle racism 15 years on since a taxi driver in Teesside was attacked.
56 year-old Mohammed Zabir from Middlesbrough was smashed with a bottle and then brutally kicked in the head and chest by a teenager on this day in 2011.
Witnesses at the time said the young man also shouted foul, racial abuse afterwards.
Mohammed's nephew, Amjid Khazir, said: "To hear in court and from police that there was elements that they believe were racially motivated that led to the attack it was totally devastating.
"A father of six, a taxi driver who was only doing his job and taking him and his friends home in the middle of the night, I still firmly believe it was racially motivated. For me, where we are now is far, far worse than it's ever been, and especially since 2011.
"It was a Friday night going into Saturday morning. My uncle was driving his taxi, picked up some passengers coming out of Yarm, travelling up to Middleton St George at about 2.30 in the morning. At which point, at the end of the journey, a young man from the passenger side, rather than get out the taxi with his friends, when they arrived at their destination, began to assault my uncle Zabir.
"On that Saturday afternoon, there was a march by the EDL in Middlesbrough that day, and there's an instant presumption that this could be racially motivated, which some say it was, some of the evidence that the police gathered, but it was just a terrible moment.
"I've held a taxi badge. My late father drove a taxi. Many, many people from minority communities in this town and towns and cities across the country, if not the world, drive taxis and you always worry night time work, what it can bring in terms of a potential threat. And on that fateful night, it was our Uncle Zabir who was a victim of a violent, brutal assault.
"I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was a really, really difficult time and I remember that morning because of the march by the EDL, my phone was going crazy where people were ringing me, my mates texting me saying, 'you know, what's happening, your uncle? Is he okay? Was it EDL? Was it racism?' And at that time we didn't know why and who attacked him.
"I absolutely think the attack was racially motivated. Although the young man who attacked my uncle Zabir was himself mixed heritage, from the reports that we've read, there was a racial element in some of the text messages that he'd apparently sent to some of his friends.
"I've never seen those messages, but from the reports that we got back from the police, they did believe there was a racial element and there was comments made to such in court. From what we've heard, there was conversations in the pub taking place about the EDL march the next day, and there was a lot of tension in the town, a lot of worry about what's going to happen.
"It was the first time a far-right group of that prominence back then had been this far up the A19 in nearly 25 years. And so your first inclination is that, 'is this racially motivated?' And to think a man in his mid-50s could be attacked by a young man simply because of the religion he practices or the colour of his skin, or that this young person in particular thought it'd be justifiable to attack an innocent man.
"Honestly, I'd say even more needs to be done to tackle racism. You know, we grew up in Middlesbrough and I would never have described Middlesbrough as a racist town per se. Then post-September 11th, it was more about the religion you practiced rather than the colour of your skin, which for some people was an issue.
"To see where we are post-Brexit, post-COVID, post-2024, the riots, the rise of nationalism, the rise of the far-right groups in this country, the spike in racial hate crimes against all communities, we seem to have become, as a society, as a country, so much more polarised even since 2011.
"I believe right now, in 2026, that racism in the UK from my own lived experience and my understanding of the world that we live in, it's worse now than it's ever been. And I've openly heard people say, 'I am racist, so what?'
"There are people calling for re-migration, which is another way of saying deportation. I was born and raised in this country. My mind works in English. I'm a Muslim, I'm Pakistani by heritage, by ethnicity. I love my faith, I love my culture. But I was born and raised in England, the way I speak, the way I think, the way I view the world. And to make things better, I think less labelling is important in terms of the individual people you speak to."
Mohammed died a month later from a heart attack.
Amjid is the director of Media Cultured which aims to educate and train people to promote a positive change in social unity, equity, inclusion, and safeguarding.