HOW two-faced is Judge Howard Crowson? He jailed Scott Brierley for two-and-a-half years for racially aggravated assault on an Asian taxi driver (Echo, Sept 10).

Judge Crowson said: “Taxi drivers are vulnerable. We all rely on them. If it were not for them, we would find it difficult to get about.

“But they can only operate if people behave, and they need to be protected, and will be protected by courts if they are attacked.”

The same judge in February 2011 gave a 12-month community order to the low-life who stole the alloy wheels, broke a window and damaged the body panels on my husband’s minibus resulting in his company losing weeks of revenue.

How was my husband supposed to drive a minibus with its wheels missing and over £5,000 of damage.

Where was the protection then?

My husband was never given any compensation for this damage and had to bear the brunt of the cost of the repairs himself.

It seems to me that a few choice words said to a person and a smack in the face is deemed more serious than theft.

Anne Wearmouth, Billingham .