London taxi industry mourns beating death of 64-year-old Vijay Bhatia

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier edit of this article incorrectly stated the date of Bhatia’s funeral. It is on May 4, not May 5. AM980 regrets the error.

Tributes are pouring in for the family of Vijay Bhatia, the taxi driver who was beaten to death outside a southwest London variety store over the weekend.

Bhatia, 64, was a driver for Blue & White — on duty when he was pulled from his cab and allegedly assaulted by a passenger.

Police have since charged 23-year-old Cody Perkin with second-degree murder, for which he remains in custody. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, and also faces charges of assault and uttering threats in connection to a second unidentified victim who suffered minor injuries, police said.

Longtime taxi industry advocate Hasan Savehilaghi, who serves as president of Yellow London Taxi, called Bhatia’s death “shocking.”

Savehilaghi said Bhatia, a grandfather, worked hard to provide for his family — including helping put his children through university.

“He managed to provide for his family everything possible they needed. Hard worker? Absolutely. He was the symbol of hard-working,” he said. “Every single positive characteristic or behaviour you could find in a person, you could find in this gentleman — in Vijay. He was super responsible as a citizen. He was highly dedicated to his family.”

Savehilaghi’s comments were echoed by London Taxi Association spokesperson Roger Caranci, who said the taxi community is “devastated” by the loss.

“He was a very nice man. Always a smile on his face, and always advice to give to people who were younger. Just a great person.”

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Londoner Gina Halliday wrote on Facebook that “he was a nice man” and “always was polite.”

Blue & White is currently accepting donations for the Bhatia family at its York Street headquarters. A funeral service has been scheduled for Thursday, May 4.

Investigators say Bhatia, a veteran cab driver for more than 20 years, had picked up two passengers and allege he was assaulted by one of them after driving the pair to the parking lot.

They say both of the passengers were located and taken into custody, but one was later released without charges.