Alex McIlveen, 45, kicked and punched the two men after they crashed a Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane gas intended to cause devastation and destruction in Terminal One.

But rather than being rewarded for his fearless efforts, the police confiscated his favourite pair of trainers for forensic tests.

Alex said: “The police took all the clothes I’d been wearing so I lost my Nike trainers. They’re a good pair too.”

And as if losing the shirt off his back wasn’t bad enough, when the heroic cabbie returned to the airport to pick up his car, he was stunned to find he’d been given a £30 parking ticket.

Alex was one of group of heroic Scots who took on the men who targeted the airport on Saturday afternoon.

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He told the Daily Record: “I noticed a 4×4 sitting in the middle of the road. Then, as my passenger was paying and getting out, the Jeep rammed into the airport entrance right next to us.

“Then he kicked and punched a man to the ground before punching a policeman square in the face.

“That’s when I saw red. That sort of thing just isn’t on.

“I told my passenger to run for her life, then I went for the passenger and managed to skelp him in the face. I followed it up by booting him twice.”

The father of two damaged a tendon in his foot after he kicked one of the suspects.

The cabbie said: “I kicked him with full force right in the balls but he didn’t go down. He just kept on babbling his rubbish.

“I couldn’t believe that he was still standing. I know I would have been floored by that kind of kick.”

Then he went after the driver of the vehicle.

“It was obvious the driver wanted into the boot of the Jeep for something and I was worried about what it was. I thought it must be a gun.

“He was going crazy, just lashing out at everyone and babbling p*sh in a foreign language the whole time.

“I’ve heard people say since that he was shouting ‘Allah!’ but I didn’t hear that. It just sounded like a lot of c**p to me.

“I ran for the guy and punched him twice in the face with pretty good right hooks.

He recalled: “He was a big guy and I’m not really a fighter, but his punches were wild and I managed to dodge them and make some good strikes myself.

“I don’t think the policeman I saw at the scene drew his baton during the whole thing. He should have given it to me – I’d have leathered those guys with it.”

It was only later at the Paisley police station where Alex was helping detectives with their inquiries that the severity of the incident hit the cabbie.