A New York City cab driver has been fined $7 600 for launching a foul-mouthed tirade at another cabbie.

The confrontation occurred October 8, 2007, on the West Side of Manhattan when neither driver had a passenger.

Driver Malik Rizwan hooted at fellow cabbie Zbigniew Sobczak after Sobszak cut him off, prompting Sobszak to jump out of his cab and use a vulgarity repeatedly.

Rizwan called the police and accused Sobczak of assault.

A city administrative law judge found Sobczak guilty of verbal harassment, not assault, and recommended a N$2 660 fine.

But Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman Matthew Daus, in a ruling last Friday, increased the penalty to N$7 600 and a 30-day suspension.

There was a time when cab drivers were given more leeway with language.

A 1982 legal decision in a case called TLC vs.

Baudin found that a "driver's use of profanity during a fight with a pedestrian was not misconduct given cognizance to the realities of life in New York City."

But Daus, in a letter to Sobczak, said, "To the extent that decisions issued before my tenure, such as TLC vs.

Baudin, may be read to overrule the penalty of licence revocation for verbal harassment or abuse, I would override those decisions."

Nampa-AP

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