A former taxi driver's personal injury claims for up to €120,000 were thrown out by a judge who told him his case had been a total waste of court time.

The court heard Mohammed Noman Khan kept a 77-year-old distressed woman waiting for an hour on the Goatstown Road until gardaí arrived at the scene of what had been a "one mile an hour" rear-ending of his taxi.

Barrister Conor Kearney told Mr Khan in cross-examination that Pauline O'Grady (now 81) would tell the Circuit Civil Court that her automatic car had accidentally rolled forward in traffic - causing no damage to either vehicle.

"You insisted on gardaí being called and wouldn't even allow her to move her car before they arrived," Mr Kearney told him.

Mr Khan (37), of Belarmine Plaza, Stepaside, Dublin, was told that an FBD Insurance investigator would give evidence of his having signed a statement that he had not been injured.

Despite Mr Khan having denied that he had made such an admission, his legal team told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that they had received instructions to withdraw his claim against Ms O'Grady, as well as a second claim that he had made against another driver for an incident that had occurred only two months later in 2016.

Mr Kearney, who appeared with Stephen Mackenzie Solicitors for FBD and Ms O'Grady, was awarded full legal costs against Mr Khan.

Judge Linnane said that the former taxi driver's credibility had gone completely and told him that it had been a total waste of time in both his cases having been brought to court.

Mr Khan, who had to be prompted about where the second accident had occurred, also withdrew his claim against AXA-insured Pauline Treanor for another low-impact collision that had occurred while he drove towards the airport on the Drumcondra Road.

Adrianne Fields, who appeared with Delahunty O'Connor Solicitors for Ms Treanor, was also awarded full legal costs against Mr Khan and during his evidence had insisted that he alone identify where the accidents had taken place.

In both incidents, Mr Khan told the court he had suffered whiplash injuries.

He also told Judge Linnane that he had settled a High Court case in 2011 for €12,500 for an accident at work but later conceded in cross-examination that he got nothing out of it as the settlement was used to defray legal costs.

Irish Independent