A TAXI driver has been banned from the roads after offering a female passenger discounted fares in exchange for sex and threatening another.

Rizwan Ziarab has already been convicted by the courts of threatening and abusive behaviour in relation to the incidents and has now been taken off the road after police said he posed a serious threat to public safety.

Licensing chiefs in Glasgow heard how in January 2014 he told a female passenger who claimed not to have the full £20 for the short trip between the city centre and Pollokshields she could only pay half if she performed a sex act.

He also offered to waive the full fare if the passenger had full sex with him. The passenger refused the offer and later notified the police.

On another occasion he is accused of threatening and abusive behaviour towards female passengers he was taking between Glasgow city centre and Govan, having demanded an additional £20 on top of the previously arranged fee.

During the hearing, a Police Scotland representative told the council's licensing committee: "Mr Ziarab, whilst at a Shell petrol station on Victoria Road, Glasgow, behaved in a threatening and abusive manner by attempting to negotiate with a customer, in relation to a taxi fare due to him by suggesting she carry out acts of a sexual nature in exchange for a reduction in the fare."

It comes weeks after it emerged a Glasgow black taxi driver had allegedly offered to waive the fares of female passengers if they urinated in the back of the cab.

In another case heard yesterday, a private hire driver was also removed from the roads after cannabis with a street value of almost £150,000 was found in his car.

Mr Dolan had been stopped by Lancashire Police near Preston when he was believed to be travelling from Merseyside to Glasgow on the M6 in June 2014. Police were acting on intelligence passed on to them.

They discovered 30kg of the class B drug split into around 300 solid blocks. He was given a two-year suspended sentence and given 200 hours community service.

Police Scotland said the 31-year-old posed a serious threat to public safety.