An Ipswich man has been ordered to pay £372 for damaging a taxi during a racially aggravated incident. 

Kristian Pullen, 45, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage at Ipswich Magistrates Court on Tuesday for assaulting a taxi driver in June last year. 

The assault was categorised as racially aggravated as Pullen called the victim a racial slur. 

The 45-year-old's defence lawyer Mr Cots claimed that he had mistaken the victim for another driver, whose taxi he had been in previously and said had driven recklessly. 

In mitigation, Mr Cots said that the other driver had driven at 60mph in a 30mph zone and ran red lights.

On June 22 2023, while drunk, Pullen approached the victim, called him slurs, kicked on his taxi's doors, scratched the taxi and spat on it. 

He believed that he had approached the driver of the taxi he had been in before. 

He was ordered to pay a fine of £80 along with a compensation fee of £200 for the emotional distress and damage to the victim. 

The court also ordered Pullen to pay £32 in costs and a surcharge of £60 - taking his total to £372.