Two men involved in a late-night fracas on a bus in which a passenger was taunted and beaten have avoided going to jail.

Safraz Ali, 19, of Ridgefield Road, Cowley, and Davinder Singh, 21, of Cricket Road, Cowley, admitted using threatening behaviour on February 11, this year, on a Stagecoach bus to Blackbird Leys. They both denied charges of affray and assaulting Adam Buckley.

Jan Davies, prosecuting, said Mr Buckley got on to a bus at Carfax at 2.30am, bumped into someone in front of him and that two Asian men asked him: "What's your problem?"

A third man who was with the defendants then punched him to the side of the head, Mrs Davies said, adding that Ali, Singh and their accomplice then started shouting at Mr Buckley calling him "fatso" and "white boy."

"Then all three of them began to punch Mr Buckley. It's difficult to say who did what, but all three of them had a go," Mrs Davies said.

Chairman of the bench, Jane Moir, said magistrates had considered jailing the pair.

Both men were sentenced to carry out 200 hours' community service and ordered to pay £100 compensation towards Mr Buckley and £55 costs.