FOOTIE BOSS FINED £1K FOR TAXI BUST-UP
Academy chief rowed with cabbie
A SCOTTISH Premiership football coach was fined £1300 at court yesterday after admitting being involved in a late-night bust-up with a taxi driver on a busy motorway.
Scott Leitch, 48, the director of Motherwell’s academy, was returning home in a cab from a night out when a row erupted between him and taxi driver John Wilson on the M74 near Hamilton.
The former Steelmen skipper hit Wilson on the head before lunging forward and trying to grab hold of the steering wheel.
The shocked driver was forced to take evasive action to stop furious Leitch getting his hands on the wheel.
As he did so, Leitch grabbed hold of his clothes, causing them to rip.
The car was eventually stopped and police were called.
When they arrived, Leitch struggled violently with police as they tried to arrest him. And he shouted, swore and threatened officers as they took him to a police station.
Leitch, of Motherwell, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted behaving recklessly in the taxi, struggling violently with police and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner in June.
He was fined £900 and ordered to pay Wilson £400 in compensation by Sheriff Douglas Brown.
A source said: “He’d been coming home from a night out when things boiled over in the taxi. He deeply regrets his actions and knows his behaviour was out of order.”
Leitch came through Motherwell’s youth system and went on to play for Dunfermline, Hearts and Swindon before rejoining his hometown club in 2000.
Since retiring, he has worked for Ross County, Aberdeen and Celtic before taking up his current role in 2013.