Brit held in Dubai for TWO YEARS after row with taxi driver over £2 fare

David Ballantine, 46, was jailed for 69 days and had his passport seized following the fall-out with the state-employed cabbie

A Brit has recalled his horror ordeal at being held in Dubai for two years after a row with a taxi driver over a £2 fare.

David Ballantine, 46, was jailed for 69 days and had his passport seized following the fall-out with the state-employed cabbie.

The former Tory candidate, of Edinburgh, spoke out about his ordeal after Jamie Harron, 27, and Billy Barclay, 31, were also detained in the UAE.

David revealed how his nightmare began when the taxi driver set off with the wrong passengers in his car.

He asked the cabbie to stop but he ignored him and instead pulled over beside a policeman.

The cop ordered David to pay the minimum fare of 10 AED — £2 — so he got cash at an ATM.

But after he dropped it in the taxi window and going to join his friends, the driver claimed David hadn’t paid and he was arrested and jailed.

He said: “He reversed the taxi aggressively back to where my group was.

“He accused me of not paying. I told him I had, and showed him where it was. He claimed that was his own money.

“He became more hostile until he physically attacked me.

‘‘I was worried. I was in a fight, in Dubai, where I knew the law could be harsh, and I knew the driver would be believed over the Westerner.”

David told of his 2013 nightmare after Jamie and Billy were also left trapped in Dubai.

Jamie, of Stirling, was stranded for more than three months when a businessman accused him of touching his hip.

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