A TAXI driver who viciously attacked a woman two weeks after she had given birth has been spared jail.

Zafar Iqbal Qurashi was driving his private-hire car on June 26 last year at Woodfields Retail Park, off Peel Way, Bury, when several motorists spotted him driving across the roundabout.

The 54 year-old, of Houghton Street, Bury, then drove across the pedestrian crossing – narrowly avoiding pedestrians.

One of those who saw Qurashi's poor driving was a woman, who was confronted by Qurashi outside Tesco.

Police said the woman, who had recently come out of hospital after giving birth, spoke to Qurashi and asked for his taxi badge number,

The taxi driver then punched the woman in the face and kicked her, rupturing stitches put in following the birth.

Shoppers intervened and managed to halt the attack and police were called to the scene.

Qurashi appeared at Bury Magistrates Court on October 16 and denied assault and using threatening language likely to harass others, but was found guilty on January 27 after a trial.

Magistrates said the attack has had a significant ongoing effect on the victim, "who had suffered an injury during the assault, which took place in a busy public place in Bury".

However, they chose not to jail Qurashi immediately.

He was given a 16-week prison sentence suspended for a year and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work within the next year.

Qurashi must also pay his victim £500 and pay the courts another £280 to cover the cost of the hearing.

After the hearing, the assault victim, who has asked not to be named, said: "I think he should have gone to prison, but they gave him the harshest sentence they could.

"I was disappointed that he was free to drive a taxi for seven months after what he did. I think that was a really bad decision."

Bury Council, which issues licences to taxi drivers in the borough, was unable to suspend his licence while legal proceedings were ongoing.

After the hearing, a council spokesman said: "When he was given this sentence, we immediately revoked his licence to be a taxi driver, with the approval of Bury licensing panel’s chairman, Cllr David Jones, on the grounds of public safety."

Cllr Jones said the ban came in on the same day that the court case concluded due to the severity of the offence.

He added that, in his role as panel chairman, he had signed off orders only three times in as many years.

"In cases as serious as this, we don't wait six weeks before considering whether a driver should be prevented from working as a taxi driver," added Cllr Jones.