Man says his drink must of been spiked causing him to racially abuse taxi driver

A man who was refused a taxi journey has said he turned on the driver and made race hate remarks because his drink had been spiked.

Travis Phipps attacked the taxi driver, punching him and verbally abusing him, after a night out in Blackpool.

According to a report on Blackpool Gazette, Phipps, 36, told police he was not a racist, his behaviour was out of character and he believed his drink had been spiked.

A police officer who saw him that night said he was banging his head on a window and described him as behaving in a entirely strange fashion. He pleaded guilty at Blackpool Magistrates' to racially aggravated assault and sentenced to a 12 month community order with up to 20 days rehabilitation to be supervised by the probation service.

He was also ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work for the community and told to pay £100 compensation with £85 costs plus £85 victims’ surcharge.

The conviction comes just weeks after a Runcorn man was jailed for nine months for racially abusing and assaulting a Hungarian taxi driver. Mark Stephen Davies, 32, appeared at Chester Crown Court on 23 August where he was sentenced after pleading guilty to racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage. Speaking of Davies' arrest, DC Phil Brown said: “The taxi driver was simply doing his job and should not have been racially abused or assaulted in the course of his work. "I hope that Davies now realises that we will not put up with behaviour that insults or discriminates against people who should be welcomed in our community and that the Police will take strong action against such behaviour.”

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