A 44-year-old man has been fined £330 for threatening behaviour after an incident with a taxi driver on Christmas Eve.

Paul Scott Wright was said to have made racist comments to the driver, who reported the matter to police.

Prosecuting advocate Sara-Jayne Dodge told the court that the defendant got into a taxi on Victoria Street in Douglas, on December 24.

He was said to have initially been friendly, but the driver said that he had then asked him where he was from.

The cabbie claimed that Wright said: ‘We don’t want any foreigners,’ and had made references to ‘kicking all foreigners out’.

The driver said that he was then asked what religion he was, and he had become concerned, and told Wright he would call the police.

Wright was then said to have become more aggressive and told him: ‘Stop getting upset cos I asked if you’re Muslim.

‘You’re in the Isle of Man now, you’re not in Muslim land now.’

Wright attended voluntary police interview, and handed in a prepared statement.

In it, he said that he had several mixed-race family members, and that he had asked the driver if he was celebrating Christmas.

He claimed the cabbie got angry when asked if he was Muslim, and that he himself had felt intimidated.

Wright said when he arrived home, he called the taxi company because he felt the driver had been unprofessional, but had declined to make a complaint.

Defence advocate Emily Brennan said that her client now accepted the prosecution facts, and that he had not wanted to cause distress to the driver.

She said he had reacted to the cabbie’s reaction to being asked about religion.

Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood also ordered Wright, who lives at Woodbourne Road, to pay £50 prosecution costs.