A well known cab driver who racially abused a guard at Southport railway station has won an appeal against Sefton Council’s decision to refuse him a new private hire licence after arguing he had been in extreme pain with a leg condition at the time of the offence.
Brian Bradshaw, 38, was given a prison sentence of eight weeks, suspended for 12 months, in February of last year for the racially aggravated public order offence.
The court heard that he and a relative had been to Southport Air Show when he was stopped from entering the railway station after he stumbled and a railway guard thought he was drunk.
Bradshaw launched into a racist tirade against the guard which the court heard lasted 15 minutes and left the guard so deeply affected that he took time off work.
The rail guard told police. “He was so fixated on the colour of my skin and kept repeating comments. It was not like it was a joke. It was like a person of deep hatred.”
Granting Bradshaw the appeal the magistrates said that along with his medical evidence they had considered references he had supplied which said the incident was ‘totally out of character’, and that he had an unblemished record as a taxi driver.
“Taking all that into account we believe that you are a fit and proper person and for that reason your appeal has been granted,” they said.
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