"There wasn't passing traffic, presumably the lights had just been changing, but I managed to just clip the door mirror of a passing car."

Not quite sure from that sentence what was and wasn't passing.

In any case I think you have a right to check what's in the driver's insurance policy (he may be trying to protect his NCD): there must be extra exclusions (compared with a private policy) for taxi use but you need to know whether damage caused by a passenger is among them.

If it got as far as the small claims court, you might have a persuasive argument that the driver accepted the risk by stopping in a busy road when you had presumably been willing to finish the original journey to the back road.

Last thought - can the driver prove that the dent wasn't there before? Would a clip from a mirror cause the 'big dent' that you mention?

Don't accept liability unless you have to.

I was a private hire driver for 15 yr upto 2005, In that time i had a couple of similar incidents,

First of all it IS the drivers responsibility at ALL times to consider the passengers welfare this includes alighting whether it be in a safe area (car park) or as you stated on a busy junction.

Secondly it was HIS suggestion to drop you at that point so therefore he naturally should have made sure you're exit was clear and safe.

Because of huge increases in insurance costs (upto 300% in some parts of uk) he'll be trying to avoid the excess and it appears he's trying to make a few quid also, to the lamen he maybe justified HOWEVER i'm sure you have his registration or vehicle hire number? I suggest you find out which is his local authority licensing officer and approach them with this, I would love to guarantee they'd not only agree with what i've said but also that they would approach the driver and question his actions.

Good luck