A former taxi driver assaulted a disabled woman and her teenage daughter and hurled racist abuse at them.
Rao Khan followed Karen Hodgson and her daughter Severn for two-and-a-half miles in his cab and attacked the pair - after Mrs Hodgson politely let another driver in front of her.
The father-of-four warned them that he would mark their mobility car and get his taxi driver friends to follow them.
Mrs Hodgson was left so frightened by the experience that she urged her 17-year-old daughter to dye her distinctive pink hair so she wouldn’t be recognised.
Khan’s wife Asma Khan, at the time pregnant and inside his car alongside their three sleeping children, also appeared in court over the offence.
Kirklees Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Hodgson and her daughter’s ordeal began at 3.45pm on May 27 last year. It lasted for an hour and involved three separate encounters with the Khans, of Union Street in Lindley.
READ MORE: Watch: Police probe crash in Westbourne Road, Marsh, which left car badly damaged
READ MORE: Watch: Police pursuit through Mirfield ends in dramatic smash
The first was in Waterloo, prosecutor Vanessa Jones said.
She added: “The traffic was busy and moving slowly. Mrs Hodgson slowed a little to allow another car to come into the line of slow moving traffic. This seems to be the catalyst that starts the whole thing.
“The blue Jaguar being driven by Mr Khan pulled alongside her Ford Fiesta and he began to shout at her through the window.”
The abuse was prolonged and Mrs Hodgson, registered disabled with a fragile body condition, tried to drive on. When she got to the forecourt of the Tesco filling station in Waterloo there was another altercation involving Khan, 37. He pulled alongside Mrs Hodgson’s car and called her and her daughter “white b******s.”
Mrs Jones said: “They came up the ring road to Huddersfield and again he was shouting. He indicated that he was going to mark their car and get all of his taxi mates to follow them around.
“His vehicle was marked as a taxi and Severn Hodgson also heard the phrase “white b******s” and Mrs Khan shouting abuse.”
The court heard that the cars then went in separate directions at the roundabout with Mrs Hodgson heading to level one of Huddersfield Bus Station car park where she parked in a marked disabled bay.
Mrs Jones said: “As they were preparing to leave the car the front passenger door where her daughter was sitting was opened by Mr Khan.
“He began to pull and push Severn, Mrs Hodgson took out her phone to call police and he tried to grab the phone from her.
“There was a tussle at this point and Mrs Hodgson was left sore and aching because of her vulnerability. Both of them were fearful and Mr Khan threatened to beat them up.”
Khan was convicted in his absence after a trial of two racially-aggravated assaults and racially-aggravated threatening behaviour.
His wife, also 37, was convicted of racially-aggravated threatening behaviour.
The court was told that despite his vehicle being identified as a taxi, Khan had had his licence revoked.
Paul Blanchard, mitigating, said that his client’s behaviour was down to being an “overprotective father” who believed his wife and unborn child may have been placed in difficulty by Mrs Hodgson’s driving manoeuvre.
District Judge David Scanlon said: “Each complainant suffered prolonged abuse and the nightmarish scenario imposed on them.”
Khan was handed a 16-week suspended jail term and ordered to comply with a four-month curfew.
He must pay both Mrs Hodgson and her daughter £300 compensation and £300 prosecution costs.
His wife was fined £200 and told to pay £100 compensation to both women .
