POLICE are investigating an incident in which two people claim they were deliberately run over by a taxi driver after a dispute about a fare.

The pair were taken to hospital by ambulance after the incident, which happened at about 4am (WST)yesterday, on the corner of Thomas St and Heytesbury Rd, Subiaco.

James Cairns, a 20-year-old British tourist, who was in the taxi with the two people who were allegedly run over, said the altercation began when the taxi driver demanded up-front payment of a fare for a trip from Perth to Claremont.

Mr Cairns said that when he and his friends, Josie and Sean, got out of the taxi after the argument, the driver turned his car around and deliberately ran into the pair as they crossed the road.

"Josie went under the car and Sean went over it," he said.

"I ran towards the taxi to get the driver to stop, but he just sped off.

"Sean tried to get up but he was too badly injured and Josie was lying limp on the ground.

"We rang the police and the ambulance straight away."

A St John Ambulance spokesman confirmed a man and woman were taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital from Subiaco early on Saturday morning.

The man and woman told ambulance officers they had been run over.

The spokesman said the man was taken to hospital in a brace and the woman had a swollen and bruised leg.

They were discharged a few hours later.

Mr Cairns said he met Sean and Josie for the first time earlier Friday night at Geisha nightclub in James St, Northbridge, and was sharing a cab with them to Claremont.

He did not know how to get back in touch with them yesterday to check on their welfare. He had gone with them in the ambulance to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. He said goodbye to them at 7am.

He said the taxi driver was Asian or Lebanese and in his 30s.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22426484-662,00.html