A taxi driver who worked for a travel business which was allegedly subjected to a six-year campaign of violence by a disgruntled former employee has described hearing a loud bang before the windows of his vehicle shattered.

Giving evidence the driver, who worked for Goldline Travel which was based near Beccles, said on the first occasion in December 2015 he was parked in a car park in Beccles when he heard a bang and saw a rear window of the taxi had shattered.

Three months later in March 2016 he had an elderly passenger in his taxi when he heard a “popping” sound and saw a rear window had shattered.

He said he thought someone had shot at the window because of similar incidents being reported by other Goldline taxi drivers.

The driver told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court said that in June 2016 he was driving in Beccles when he heard a loud bang and saw a rear window had shattered.

Before the court are Adrian Ling, 63, of Woodside, Beccles, and Daniel Garrison, 34, of Danforth Drive, Woodbridge, who have denied conspiring to commit criminal damage to property belonging to Goldline Travel between December 2012 and November 2019.

Ling has also denied four offences of having an air rifle with intent to commit criminal damage between 2013 and 2019.

It has been alleged that during a campaign of violence by Ling and Garrison against Goldline Travel, which operates a small fleet of coaches and taxis from its premises in Ellough, near Beccles, its vehicles were repeatedly vandalised, and, on several occasions, taxis were shot at while picking up and carrying fares.

The court has heard that Ling started working for Goldline in 2008 as a mechanic and was sacked by its owner Ian Trussler in 2012.

“It is clear that he was very angry about being sacked and it’s the prosecution case that he has harboured a significant personal grudge against Ian Trussler and Goldline and has carried out a sustained vendetta against them,” alleged Andrew Thompson, prosecuting. 

He claimed that Ling, who was convicted of stealing diesel from Goldline but subsequently acquitted on appeal, started the vendetta following his dismissal while Garrison allegedly joined the conspiracy in 2016.

The trial continues.