THREE men hurled racist abuse at staff who refused to serve them at a York Indian restaurant, York Crown Court heard.

Staff at The Garden of India refused to serve Tang Hall brothers Andrew and Mark Gibson and their friend Daniel Haigh, because they were drunk at 9.30pm, the court was told.

The men responded by hurling racist insults, including references to the September 11 terrorist attacks, spitting at two members of staff and knocking over a telephone and plant pot.

An hour later, Mark Gibson tried to deflect attention from the incident by phoning police and claiming that the staff had used racist abuse towards him.

But customers and eyewitnesses confirmed that waiter Shahim Miah and off-duty chef Kubub Uddim had done nothing to provoke the torrent of racist abuse they received. The two employees had remained calm throughout and not responded to the abuse.

Haigh later told police he could not see what was wrong with using the word "Paki" and Andrew Gibson told them he was surprised they were questioning him.

"This was disgraceful conduct," Judge Scott Wolstenholme told the three in the dock at York Crown Court. "I hope you are heartily ashamed of yourself."

He added that he would have considered making them do community punishment, but the law only allowed him to fine them, and two of the three lived on benefits.

Mark Gibson, 34, and Andrew Gibson, 35, both of Constantine Avenue and Haigh, 22, of Frobisher House, Woolnough Avenue, were all fined £400. Andrew Gibson was ordered to pay £160 compensation to the restaurant staff because he was in work.

The court heard that the older brother had started the incident. He was the first to enter the restaurant and the first to hurl insults. Andrew Gibson's barrister Simon Jack suggested this was wrong.

All three admitted using racist abuse. Their barristers said they had been drinking for hours and were not normally racist. They had friends from the Asian community and had worked for an Asian employer in the past.

Updated: 11:54 Tuesday, November 05, 2002