A MAN who attacked a taxi driver and was aggressive towards neighbours after being dropped off at his home near Redditch has been ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work.

James Evans, aged 25, a self-employed sub-contractor, of Cherry Walk, Hollywood, who admitted affray, was also ordered to pay £500 court costs.

Another allegation of attempted robbery was dropped when the prosecution offered no evidence.

Judge Michael Cullum, sentencing him to a year-long community order at Worcester Crown Court, said Evans had been “drunk, abusive and aggressive”.

“It was disgraceful behaviour – to put people in fear is something you are rightly ashamed of,” the judge told him.

Timothy Sapwell, prosecuting, said Evans and a friend were picked up by taxi driver Tariqu Hussain in Corporation Street, Birmingham.

By the time they arrived in Cherry Walk, both men were asleep, with Evans clutching a bottle of vodka, and there was a dispute about the fare, which was not paid.

Mr Hussain put the vodka bottle on the ground and Evans was asking if he could drive the taxi.

The taxi driver got back into the car, locked the doors and started the engine but Evans thrust his head through the window and punched Mr Hussain in the face, said Mr Sapwell.

There was then an “exchange of blows” before Mr Hussain drove off, with Evans’s head still through the window.

Neighbour Heather Sharkey, who had remonstrated with the driver about the “dumping” of the vodka bottle and then saw Evans was drunk and abusive, called the police, added Mr Sapwell.

Another neighbour, Anthony Murphy, and his friend Rob Macklin, saw Evans carrying the vodka bottle and running at the taxi “like a lunatic” after Mr Hussain’s vehicle returned to the road.

Evans then confronted Mr Murphy, who feared he was going to be attacked, while his three-year-old daughter looked out of a nearby window, said Mr Sapwell.

Philip Bradley, defending, agreed that Evans’s behaviour towards his neighbours had been “unacceptable”.