LONDON cabbies are considering boycotting David Mellor, the former Conservative Cabinet Minister, who was branded an obnoxious snob after he launched an expletive-filled tirade against a taxi driver.
Unions representing cabbies suggested the incident had echoes of the Plebgate row.
Mr Mellor said he regretted losing his temper at the taxi driver following a visit to Buckingham Palace with his partner, VisitEngland chairwoman Viscountess Penelope Cobham, who had just been awarded a CBE.
During an argument last Friday about the route taken, the ex-Minister called the unnamed cabbie a "sweaty, stupid little s**t".
He is heard telling the taxi driver to "f*** off", saying he would name him and discuss the incident on his London radio show. "You've been driving a cab for 10 years," Mr Mellor told the cabbie, "I've been in the Cabinet, I'm an award-winning broadcaster, I'm a Queen's Counsel. You think that your experiences are anything compared to mine?"
Afterwards, Mr Mellor said: "This man seriously provoked me and ruined a wonderful day. Once I had lost my temper, which I regret, he then secretly recorded me. I will leave the public to judge his actions."
But the London taxi branch of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union said it was considering a formal boycott of the former Tory Minister.
"It is no surprise that our black cab members across London are considering a boycott of the Tory toff David Mellor over his outrageous, pompous and disgraceful tirade against one of their colleagues," said Mick Cash, the RMT general secretary.
"His sneering and snobbish verbal assault says it all about the elite that run this country and their attitude towards the working classes that they expect to transport them."
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