Two police constables have been booted out of the force after a street brawl with two Asian taxi drivers.

Police constables Andrew and Duncan Simpson were hauled before a court charged with affray after they fought a pitched battle with two taxi drivers in Newcastle.

After being convicted the disgraced brothers have been sacked by Northumbria police over the incident outside a pizza shop in the city's west end.

A judge branded their behaviour as "disgusting" and after a two-month inquiry, a Northumbria Police spokesman confirmed: "Both officers were dismissed on the charge of having been found guilty of a criminal offence."

The trouble flared after a woman with the two off-duty officers during a night out called Muzafer Ahmed and Vaseem Mukhtar "West End trash".

The cabbies, who thought the insult had been racist, followed the policemen and challenged them in front of the Millennium Take Away.

In November last year Newcastle Crown Court heard how the four men traded punches while passers-by tried to separate them. All four suffered multiple cuts and bruises to the face and body.

The court was also told how one of the officers gripped one of the drivers by the throat until his eyes bulged.

The brawling continued until uniformed police arrived and arrested the group, who had also been captured on CCTV.

Andrew Simpson, 27, Duncan Simpson, 25, both from Crawcrook, Gateshead, Mukhtar, 23 and Ahmed, 20, both of Newcastle, all pleaded self defence but were found guilty of affray.

Fining each £750 plus £500 costs after the hearing, Judge Beatrice Bolton said: "This behaviour was just disgusting, whoever or however it started.

"All four of you should be deeply ashamed, and it is likely you Mr Ahmed and you Mr Mukhtar will lose your Hackney Carriage licences.

"You Duncan and Andrew Simpson not only have lost your characters but you will also, I am quite satisfied, lose your employment as police officers."

The policemen were hauled in front of a force disciplinary hearing after the court's verdict.

A spokesman said: "A hearing has taken place and both officers were dismissed."

The brothers joined the force after serving with the Army, one as a paratrooper and the other as a marine.

Duncan Simpson hit the headlines in 1999 when he was threatened by a drug- crazed gunman as he tried to halt his getaway.

PC Simpson and colleague Richard Cusack flagged down David Perrin in the early hours of Christmas Eve in Gateshead.

But when they moved in to arrest Perrin he pulled out a handgun and forced them to drop their radios and ordered them to take off their protective vests.

The officers managed to flee the scene and Perrin escaped.

Duncan Simpson was also charged in 1997 with hitting a woman during another ugly street brawl.

He was bound over to keep the peace for 12 months in the sum of £200 after magistrates withdrew the allegation of assault.