A CABBIE was left terrified when a drunk he had dropped off opened fire on his taxi rather than pay the £9.10 fare.

Former charity worker Darrell Edwards armed himself with his air rifle after being dropped outside his girlfriend's Royal Wotton Bassett flat in the dead of night.

While she was being sick at the side of the road, having already thrown up in the back of the cab, the 43-year-old fired at the cab then put the barrel in the driver's face.

And the cabbie was left fleeing in terror after hearing a pellet ping off his vehicle and then having it put through the open passenger door.

But after hearing it was an isolated incident and Edwards, who denied firing the gun, had addressed his alcohol issues a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

The cabbie told Swindon Crown Court how he picked up Edwards and his girlfriend Mandy from a house in Toothill in the early hours of Sunday March 12.

The defendant was so drunk he had to be helped into the cab, he said, and during the journey the woman was sick inside the car which incurs a £75 cleaning bill.

After pulling up on Boroughfields, behind Sainsbury's, he said Edwards told him 'hold on a minute' and disappeared while Mandy was throwing up at the side of the road.

"I thought maybe he had gone to get a cloth to help me clean up. I was surprised to see him come out with a long barrelled weapon and he fired one off," he said.

"He was aiming it as he walked out. So he lifted it and fired it. I heard the ping of either the bonnet or the windscreen.

"After he fired he kept coming. I thought 'He's joking, what's he playing at?' - he came up, pointed it at my face and told me to get in the car and drive off."

As he reversed away he said the open passenger door knocked the gunman over and dragged him along for a while before he got to the High Street and called the police.

Under cross examination by Mike Pulsford, who was defending Edwards, the taxi driver - who had served in the army - said he was not mistaken about hearing the ping of the pellet.

As a result he said the couple paid neither the £9.10 fare or the clean-up charge for being sick in the cab, which he hadn't got a chance to ask for.

Edwards told the court he could remember nothing of the night because he was so drunk, but was sure he had not fired the gun.

He said he had it for target practice and vermin control at the flat, shooting pigeons and rats, and no longer had any pellets for it.

But Judge Robert Pawson rejected his version of events saying he had no doubt the taxi driver was telling the truth.

Edwards, of Fairview, Highworth, admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Mr Pulsford said his client, who works as an HGV driver for Action Express, has cut back his drinking.

Last summer he said he split from his wife, with whom he set up a charity helping refugees on the continent, and lost contact with his child.

He said he was currently on a community orders for other offences and was doing a building better relationships course.

The court heard from a probation officer who said there was evidence that people who left the course half done posed an increased risk.

Passing sentence the judge said: "Though you have no recollection of what you did you are horrified you behaved in that way."

He imposed a 24-month jail term suspended for two years with 100 hours of unpaid work, 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and £1,000 compensation.