Man drove car on pavement towards worker
JON MACPHERSON
AMOTORIST deliberately mounted the pavement and drove towards an engineering worker after a row, a court heard.
Paul Knighton was seen ‘ranting and raving’ at victim Scott Wolstenholme outside Danley Engineering on Heys Lane in Great Harwood.
Burnley Crown Court heard former house clearance worker Knighton, 42, returned 20 minutes later when the victim was speaking with a security guard from Aldi.
The court heard the defendant drove a green Volkswagen Polo along the pavement towards the victim before travelling ‘at full speed with wheels spinning’ into the prem- ises yard.
Knighton, of Masefield Close, Great Harwood, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention. He was given three points on his driving licence and fined £90.
The incident happened on the morning of October 24, 2016.
Prosecutor Lisa Worsley said Knighton had been convicted twice since then for dangerous driving and criminal damage offences in January 2017 all relating towards the same victim.
For those matters he was banned from driving and given a community order with a curfew.
Darren Lee-Smith, defending, said Knighton ‘appreciates he was stupid on the day in question’.
He told the court that the defendant worked in house clearances and lost his job after being subsequently disqualified from driving for the January 2017 offences. He told the court: “At the time of the offence he was of previous good character and had no previous convictions.
“He passed his test aged 17 and had an unblemished driving record.
“There’s an element of aggressive driving. He’s adamant that he was driving in the direction of the witness but was not driving deliberately at the witness.”
The court heard how Knighton has completed the community order and curfew ‘without breach’.
Judge Sara Dodd said: “I don’t know what was going on between you and the other gentleman at the end of 2016 and the early part of 2017, but you acted in a wholly inappropriate way on a number of occasions.
“You were a hard-working man of good character until you became involved in these matters.”