A man has been jailed for a year after he became involved in a drunken assault on a taxi driver.

Dale Colley, 22, of Belvedere Road, Cowley, admitted causing grievous bodily harm to Quadar Choudhary, who suffered a broken shoulder in the attack.

Peter Nightingale, prosecuting at Oxford Crown Court, said Colley had been celebrating his 21st birthday with his brother on February 23, last year, and they had tried to take over a taxi which already had a passenger.

When Mr Choudhary and his passenger protested, Mr Choudhary was racially abused and then assaulted.

Mr Nightingale said Colley's brother was still at large.

"The racist comments were made by his brother. It's his brother who started it off. But it's this Mr Colley who wades in.

"Mr Choudhary has a 17-year-old disabled child. It has made it very difficult for him to lift and attend that child.

"He suffered a substantial loss of earnings, being unable to drive for three months."

Rowan Jenkins, defending, said Colley had a "dismal record" but had been winning an "uphill battle" to get off crack cocaine and stop offending.

On the night of the attack he had been extremely drunk.

Jailing Colley, Mr Justice Leveson told him: "Had you been the instigator of this act of violence I would have measured the sentence in years. You have pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on a taxi driver who is entitled to the protection of the court."