A 77-year-old taxi driver who unleashed a volley of racist abuse at a motorist parked up at Crewe Railway Station will spend the next six weeks on an electronic tag.

Brian Kent was told by South Cheshire magistrates he would serve out a curfew as punishment after he admitted racially abusing Patrick James in an unseemly confrontation at the station's Weston Road car park.

Kent beeped his horn because he claimed Mr James was parked in a taxi bay, but then got out of his vehicle to remonstrate with his victim roaring through the window of his car: "Are you stupid, are you thick? You're black aren't you? Black Lives Matter do they?"

After he was reported to the police and borough council, the pensioner went around to his victim's house to make amends, but South Cheshire Magistrates' Court was told he appeared to be "making excuses" for his behaviour rather than accepting he was in the wrong.

Prosecutor Michael O'Kane said Mr James had seen the taxi pull up behind his car and he heard the horn beeping before Kent appeared by his car, where he racially abused him.

Mr James went over to the taxi and removed the key from the ignition so he could talk to Kent's passengers and clarify what he had heard him say.

"He was very shocked and he felt very angry and distressed. He says there have been previous incidents of people being racist to him and he doesn't now why people discriminate against him because of the colour of his skin," said Mr O'Kane.

When he went around to Mr James' home Kent claimed his language had been misconstrued.

But in a victim impact statement read out to the court Mr James said: "He [Kent] came to my house later that day, but made excuses for his behaviour.

"I was stunned this happened as he had two people of colour as passengers in his vehicle at the time. It shows that racial equality doesn't exist.

"I'd been waiting in a bay outside Crewe Station to pick up my daughter. I wasn't obstructing any taxis.....but he hurled racist abuse. As a result of that I've had major anxiety going back to the station and I have never used a taxi since."

Kent, of Bramhall Road, Crewe admitted racially aggravated harassment on August 25 last year.

He told the court his comments were "sarcastic" rather than racist.

"All I can say is I'm sorry for what I said. It was sarcastically said," said the defendant, who is no longer driving taxis.

"The taxi rank is marked out and there is free parking next to it [for other vehicles]. But I am guilty for what I said, it was in temper and not meant racially."

Probation officer Mike Bolliver said Kent would be unable to complete unpaid work as part of any community sentence as he had undergone three hip operations and suffered a stroke a year ago.

"It's a difficult one," said the probation officer. "He vehemently maintains that he doesn't hold any racist views, but he concedes his language was inappropriate."

Magistrates' Chairman Sarah Taylor assured Kent: "You're not going to prison, so don't worry about that", but told him his sentence needed to reflect the racial element of the abuse.

The pensioner will be curfewed from 7pm to 7am for six weeks and was told he must pay £100 compensation to Mr James as well as a victim surcharge of £95 and courts costs of £100.