A TAXI driver who told passengers speaking the Irish language in his car to leave the vehicle has had his licence suspended.

Alan McKinnon has been taken off the roads for a month and instructed to take a customer courtesy course after Glasgow City Council accepted he had breached several conditions of his licence.

As reported in the Evening Times in January, Mr McKinnon, from Bridgeton, was accused of offloading four passengers at the side of the road at 1am just before Christmas after they objected to his demand that they stop speaking in Irish, and a row about singing a chant involving Celtic.

A complaint by the nephew of two of the passengers, brothers Anthony and Joseph Blair from Donegal, was then lodged.

At yesterday's licensing committee hearing, chairman Councillor Chris Kelly asked if Mr McKinnon had a difficulty dealing with passengers.

His agent said his client had no such difficulty and that after 19 years of service, the incident was an "aberration".

Joseph Blair said: "I would not want the driver to lose his licence or job, as we all make mistakes, but he should learn from them."