A taxi driver was attacked after asking drunk customers for £20 prior to a “two-minute” journey in case they were sick in his cab.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Steven Ferguson, 29, of Burt Street, Wellwood, was found guilty of assaulting Ali Ahidar on April 25 at Carnegie Drive in the town by grabbing him by the throat, pulling him to the ground and struggling with him.
There was a not guilty verdict on a second charge that he behaved in a threatening or abusive manner, uttered a racist remark, threatened violence and that the offence was racially aggravated.
Mr Ahidar, 43, told the court that around 1am on a Saturday morning, two drunk men got in his taxi when he was at the front of the Carnegie Drive rank and asked to be taken to Wellwood.
The taxi driver said he was concerned that in their condition they may have been sick in his car and told them he wanted £10 each in case they were sick, but would only charge the normal fare on the meter if there were no incidents.
Mr Ahidar said both men refused to give him the money and got out of his car.
He said he had then gone out of his car for a smoke and was attacked from behind by Ferguson, who pushed him to the ground and started punching him on the body.
The two of them were on the ground and as he got back to his feet Mr Ahidar said he was grabbed around the throat and Ferguson told him “I’m going to kill you, foreigner.”
“He was trying to kill me,” said Mr Ahidar, adding that it was only because of the intervention of Ferguson’s friend that the attack stopped.
Mr Ahidar said the taxi driver in the car behind was smiling as he was being attacked and none of the other five or six cabbies at the rank at the time came to his aid.
He said he thought Ferguson attacked him because he was drunk not a racist.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher found Ferguson guilty of assault and fined him £400.