A TAXI driver accused of kidnapping a woman and bundling her into his boot has been cleared by a jury.

Following a week long trial at Bolton Crown Court it took a jury six hours to find Muhammad Asim not guilty of the crime and also of offending with intent to commit a sexual offence.

The woman, a 23-year-old former student, had alleged that she asked to be taken to her home in South Manchester when she got into his car, believing it to be a taxi, in Manchester City Centre in the early hours of July 19 last year.

But she claimed that, instead of taking her home, Mr Asim drove her to a secluded lane off Phillips Park Road, Whitefield, telling her he wanted her to perform a sexual act on him.

When they got to the quiet track she told the court she tried to get away but was caught and he bundled her into the boot. She said she escaped as he drove away.

However, Mr Asim told the jury that the woman, who was drunk, had asked to be taken to Whitefield and had become argumentative when they arrived at Phillips Park Road, demanding to be taken to Chorlton instead.

He said he struggled to get her out of the car and she had climbed into his open boot herself as he tried to drive away.

Mr Asim, of Victoria Street, Radcliffe, claimed that he had deliberately opened the boot of the car so that she could not read his registration number on it.

Although he is a registered private hire driver, on that night he was working illegally, using his wife's BMW, and he said he did not want the woman to be able to report him.