A 49 YEAR old man racially abused and assaulted a taxi driver after drinking 15 pints of beer, heard Skipton Magistrates Court.

Thomas Stoney repeatedly used racist language towards Saeed Pervez, assaulted him, and damaged his vehicle after refusing to pay an agreed fare of £30.

Stoney grabbed Mr Pervez by his jacket, tearing it, caused him to fall to the ground, resulting in a cut knee, and breaking the screen on his mobile phone. He also tore off the vehicle's illuminated sign while it was parked in a layby in Cononley and threw it though the vehicle's rear windscreen.

He was told by magistrates on Friday he would be banned from drinking for 121 days as part of his sentence and pay the taxi driver substantial compensation.

The court heard Mr Pervez picked Stoney up from Sheep Street, Skipton at 1am on June 19.

Stoney told Mr Pervez he wanted to go to Crossflatts and a fare of £30 was agreed.

The journey started fine, but Stoney started to get a bit 'agitated' and Mr Pervez, an experienced taxi driver of 30 years, thought he might have a problem, the court heard.

"He said (the fare) was too high, would not pay it and continued to haggle," said Mr Pervez in a statement. "He was trying to intimidate me and was using swear words."

Prosecuting, Martin Butterworth said Mr Pervez pulled into a layby on the A629 in Cononley, told Stoney to give him £10 for the journey so far and to get out.

Both men got out of the vehicle, Stoney grabbed hold of the other man's jacket, there was a struggle and Mr Pervez fell down, cutting his knee on the road surface and breaking the screen of his mobile phone.

Stoney then took hold of the illuminated sign on top of the vehicle, wrenched it off and threw it through the rear window, smashing the glass.

Mr Pervez got on his radio calling taxi colleagues and police. He was very shaken by what had happened and stated despite having customers previously argue a fare, he had never experienced such behaviour and feared what Stoney would do.

When interviewed by police, Stoney remembered getting into the taxi but claimed the driver had pulled him out of the vehicle and that he had 'seen red'.

Andrew Watson, from the probation service, in a pre-sentence report, said Stoney, of previous good character, had been with friends in Skipton from about 3pm and had drunk about 15 pints of beer.

Mr Watson said Stoney denied having entrenched racist views and that he had ethnic minority friends. A self employed joiner, he drank three times a week and occasionally to excess at weekends. He was also an occasional user of cocaine.

Mitigating, Siobhan White, said Stoney was genuinely remorseful for his 'shocking' actions and 'rightly so'.

Stoney, of Newlands Drive, Bingley, admitted racially aggravated common assault, criminal damage and possession of cocaine.

He was given a 12 month community order with 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also given a 121 day alcohol abstention monitoring programme, involving him being fitted with monitoring equipment. He will also have to pay £900 compensation to Mr Pervez and pay costs of £85 and a surcharge of £114.