A FORMER Bankie boy racer has been granted a licence to work as a taxi driver in West Dunbartonshire - after assuring councillors he was a reformed character.

Darren Gallagher, whose address was given in council papers as Briar Drive, was convicted of driving at 90 mph in a 50mph zone of the A82 at Dumbarton Sheriff Court in May 2017.

He was fined £350 and given five penalty points on his driving licence for the incident, which took place on December 16, 2016.

Also in May 2017, Mr Gallagher was convicted of careless driving, and exceeding the speed limit on St Vincent Street in Glasgow at the city’s sheriff court.

As a result, the applicant was fined a further £450 and given another six penalty points for the October 2016 incident.

Officers from Glasgow told the court at the time Mr Gallagher was part of a known group of “boy racers” who frequented the Glasgow area.

In a bid to get his licence, Mr Gallagher told the council committee last week: “At the times of the incidents I was in with the wrong crowd.

“Since then, I have changed my ways and I’m not hanging around with them anymore.

“It was a moment of stupidity, well, two moments of stupidity.

“I don’t do things like that anymore, because I realised I wasn’t getting anything out of it.”

Since the offences, Mr Gallagher said he had been working as a delivery driver for an electrical company.

At the hearing last week, he offered up his current employer as a reference for his now-reformed and much-improved driving.

He also told the committee he had made an application to become a lorry driver, which had been accepted, before deciding to take up work as a taxi operator instead.

Councillor Ian Dickson asked the applicant how many points he had on his drivers’ licence, to which he replied he had 11.

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However, Mr Gallagher added: “The points will expire on October 1, so they will only be on my licence for another few weeks.”

Jonathan McColl, council leader and vice chairman of the committee - who was chairing the meeting in the absence of regular chairman Jim Finn - tabled a motion calling for the licence to be agreed.

But Cllr McColl called for Mr Gallagher to be brought back before the committee, should he wish to renew his permission the following year.

The motion was agreed unanimously.