Men ‘told to get out of cab for speaking Irish'

A trainee teacher says he was told to get out of a taxi in Glasgow because he was speaking Irish.

Anthony Blair, from Goath Dobhair in Co Donegal, says he still cannot believe how he was treated on a night out in the Scottish city.

Anthony, 20, a student at St Patrick’s College, had travelled to Scotland to visit his grandmother Mary O’Donnell.

“We has just got into the taxi and I asked the driver how much it would be. When he told me I turned to my brother Joe and began speaking in Irish, which is our first language.

“He told me I couldn’t speak that way. He said we were in Britain and we should speak English.

“He said if we didn’t speak English then we should get out of his taxi. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. We said if that was his attitude then we would get out, which we did.”

Anthony, whose parents were born in Scotland, was accompanied by his cousin Kathleen McAleer, a mental health nurse, whose parents also come from Donegal, when the incident happened on Dec 16 last. Kathleen has since reported the incident to Glasgow City Council who are now investigating.

The taxi firm, Hampden Cabs, claimed its driver had taken Mr Blair and his friends from a Pogues concert and had been the victim of sectarian abuse. However, Anthony said they were not at a Pogues concert and never abused anybody.