BIG TAM TAGGED; Fallen star's race rage at cabbie.

Byline: By Victoria Weldon

FALLEN TV star Iain McColl is to be electronically tagged after he headbutted and racially abused a taxi driver.

The actor, who played Big Tam in BBC sitcom City Lights, shouted and swore at Mark Kirkpatrick and called him a "P*ki" as the cabbie drove him home from the pub.

Mark stopped the taxi, he and McColl got out, and McColl, who is battling cancer, headbutted him.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, McColl, 54, admitted assault and racially aggravated behaviour.

Sheriff Craig Henry ordered him to be tagged and banned him from leaving his home between 7pm and 7am for 60 days.

McColl, who also appeared in Rab C Nesbitt, attacked Mark on October 10 last year. He had been drinking in O'Neill's pub in Glasgow city centre before getting a taxi home with former partner Linda Hays.

The assault took place in the city's Great Western Road.

McColl, of Bearsden Road, Glasgow, should have been in court in December but he failed to turn up and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The court heard yesterday that the actor had a long-standing drink problem. Prosecutors accepted McColl's not guilty plea to a charge of possessing cannabis.

McColl has a long record of trouble with the law.

He was accused in 2007 of headbutting and punching Linda's daughter Alexandra and dragging her across the floor of his flat.

McColl was also accused of pinning Linda against a wall and breaching the peace by preventing both women from leaving the flat. But all the charges were dropped in March last year after the court heard that McColl was battling bone cancer.

The actor's lawyer said his client was having chemotherapy and also faced harrowing bone marrow treatment.

McColl was jailed for four months in 2005 for three counts of drink-driving and banned from the road for 10 years.

He also admitted driving while banned and without insurance.

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ASSAULT: Iain McColl