A MAN has had to pay more than £400 after he racially abused Caldicot councillors calling them 'Welsh inbreds.'

Roger David Tapp, aged 59, of Montpellier Spa Road, Cheltenham, will have to pay a total of £415 after he was fined £160 and has had to pay a victim surcharge of £20, Crown Prosecution costs of £85 and a criminal court charge of £150.

He was charged with racially aggravated harassment and pleaded guilty at a hearing in Newport Magistrates Court on October 27.

The incident took place on June 30 when Caldicot town councillors Frank Rowberry and Alan Davies along with the mayor of Caldicot Dave Evans were at the entrance of the pedestrian zone on Newport Road when a the car which Tapp was a passenger in drove through the pedestrian zone. Councillor Rowberry and cllr Davies were verbally abused by Tapp after they informed him and the driver that it was a pedestrian zone.

Cllr Rowberry said: “He gave us a load of abuse and foul language. There was no need for the racist bit.

"We were trying to explain to him that somebody has nearly been knocked down but he wasn't interested.

"I'm glad he got something for his attitude."

The Argus has previously reported that the driver of the vehicle was handed a £30 fixed penalty fine.

Councillors have been calling for action to stop vehicles driving through the pedestrian zone after a woman with a pushchair containing a 20-month-old baby was involved in a road collision with a van in August of last year on Newport Road.