A taxi driver?s licence may have been revoked because of ?gossip, speculation and unsubstantiated innuendo?, a court was told yesterday.

Edward Woods, 55, of School Lands Lane, Pembroke, had his taxi licence suspended for a year by the Transport Control Department?s (TCD) Public Service Vehicle Licensing Board after he admitted attacking a customer.

Mr. Woods hit Kenneth Williams, of Union Street, Pembroke, over the head with a stick on March 26 last year.

Although he was questioned by Police, no charges were brought and he was dealt with by the board, which regulates all taxis on the Island, at a tribunal on June 21.

At Magistrates? Court yesterday, his solicitor Craig Attridge said the board came to an ?unreasonable conclusion? that could have been affected by ?gossip, speculation and unsubstantiated innuendo flying around during the course of their adjudication?.

He told Magistrate Juan Wolfe: ?You cannot be satisfied that my client had a fair hearing.?

A tape featuring discussion among board members, once those giving evidence to the tribunal were dismissed, was played to the court.

On it, unidentified voices allege that Mr. Woods had previously run down a pedestrian, pushed an old man on a bus and that he ?must have been drinking? when he assaulted Mr. Williams.

None of the information had been put to Mr. Woods during his hearing or was relevant to the board?s decision, said Mr. Attridge.

Leighton Rochester, crown counsel, said the remarks on the tape were unfortunate but did not mean that Mr. Woods had been deprived of natural justice. He said the comments formed no part of the board?s deliberations.

?The board, like a jury, don?t deliberate openly in front of the defendant or appellant,? he said. ?They deliberate in their chambers by themselves. It just so happens that we happen to have a recording.

?I think these were asides based on the knowledge that they have of Mr. Woods. These are fellow taxi drivers. They know each other.?

The court was told Mr. Williams needed six or seven stitches after Mr. Woods attacked him between Angle Street and Union Street in the city.

A row had broken out between the pair after Mr. Woods picked up Mr. Williams and his girlfriend, Carmen Furbert, at Devonshire Recreational Club.

Mr. Attridge told yesterday?s civil appeal hearing that Mr. Woods took umbrage at a threat from Mr. Williams to ?f*** him up?.

He said Mr. Williams then punched Mr. Woods in the face and struck him, before his client retaliated.

Mr. Williams claimed he was talking to his girlfriend outside the taxi when he suddenly saw the driver coming at him with what he thought was a baseball bat.

Mr. Williams? mother made the complaint about Mr. Woods to the TCD, leading to the tribunal.

Mr. Attridge said: ?My client does not deny he hit the guy upside the head with a stick. The question for this court is whether the procedures have been correctly followed.?

Mr. Rochester said: ?There was nothing irregular about the board?s procedure.?

Mr. Wolfe adjourned the case for judgment on January 26.