CABBIE TRIED TO BITE LOVER'S NOSE OFF ... BUT KEEPS LICENCE
A TAXI driver who tried to bite his girlfriend's nose off has been allowed to keep his cab licence despite protests from cops.Robert Robertson, 46, pinned his partner to the ground and punched and kicked her during a drinking session at their Glasgow flat.
And he told officers who were called to the incident: "She noised me up so I tried to bite her nose off." The case emerged at a meeting of Glasgow City Council's licensing committee, where police objected to a series of applications for hackney and private hire licences because of drivers' past convictions.
Hackney driver Robertson was quizzed by councillors over the incident in December 2005 and said his partner Carol - who accompanied him to the licensing hearing - was "50% to blame".
He said: "The two of us had too much to drink.
The next day Carol admitted she started it.
"I've driven taxis for 23 years and haven't been in any trouble." Chief Inspector Stuart Neill, from Strathclyde Police's licensing section, said: "He was drunk and assaulted a female by kicking and punching her about the head and the body." "He then knelt over her and bit her nose.
Officers attending the incident saw the female had bite marks on both sides of her nose." Robertson, of Preston Street, Govanhill, was convicted of assault and domestic abuse and fined £400 at Glasgow Sheriff Court in January last year.
He also had a minor road traffic offence on record, said Mr Neill.
But councillors on the committee voted by five to three to allow Robertson a renewal of his taxi licence for a restricted period of one year, rather than the two he had requested.
He was also given a "severe warning" about his future conduct.
