Taxi driver loses licence after incident with gardaí

A taxi driver lost his public service vehicle licence yesterday after he got into an altercation with gardaí on a night off and had to be pepper-sprayed.

Maurice Kiely, aged 41, formerly of Argideen Lawn in Togher, Cork, and now of no fixed address, said he had no other income apart from his taxi earnings.

He told a court yesterday he needed the licence for his livelihood. However, Mr Kiely was refused in his latest application for renewal of his PSV licence after he declared that, apart from parking and speeding fines, he had no convictions.