A bus driver who has been in this country for more than 40 years and driven a bus for 35 of them was told by a drunken passenger: "You are from Pakistan. You are a terrorist and you are blowing the f...... country up".

Kurshidahmad Saiyed told Isleworth Crown Court: "I was very distressed at being abused like this. I have been a loyal public servant for so many years."

His tormentor, 42-year-old Anthony Cosgrove of Popes Lane, Ealing, was found guilty by Brentford magistrates of racially aggravated harassment, on August 28 last year.

Prosecutor Jessica Cook said Cosgrove, who had a previous conviction for racist behaviour, was with a woman and became abusive during a row with the driver of the No 65 about an Oyster card.

She said the incident was caught, without sound, on the bus CCTV camera. Police were led to Cosgrove because he left his dog at the bus stop. It was taken to Battersea and was found to have a microchip, which identified its owner.

Cosgrove was arrested in October and denied the charge, which was tried earlier this year. He was already subject to a suspended sentence for possessing firearms while prohibited.

Defending, Sophia Wood said he had not offended since the incident and had expressed remorse and apologies to the bus driver.

She said he was getting help for an alcohol problem and did not feel he was a racist.

Telling him he was very lucky not to be going straight to prison, Judge Hezlett Colgan commented that he had also been rude to his probation officer.

He suspended a six-month sentence for two years and told Cosgrove not to change his address for six months and to be under the supervision of the probation service.

He said: "You caused a bus driver harassment and distress and in doing that you used racist language.

"That is almost always an offence that means an immediate sentence of imprisonment. But you owe a great debt to your counsel who has just persuaded me not to send you to prison.

"The driver was a man doing his job and you used foul and abusive language to him causing great offence."