A MAN who reversed his car into a bailiff who had called at his Dudley home to seize the vehicle because of unpaid parking fines has been spared a spell behind bars.

Judge John Warner told 34 –year-old Somoza Wright that civil enforcement officer Kevin Davies had simply been doing his job and he had been left in considerable pain.

"This offence is aggravated by the fact he was doing a service on behalf of the public sector," said the judge.

"He was a man just doing his job and you were not going to allow him to do it."

Mr Davies went to unemployed Wright’s Buffrey Road home and told him he had three options - to pay the unpaid fines, hand over the keys to his car or the vehicle would be towed away.

An attempt was then made to block in the Hyundai car but Wright reversed the vehicle and Mr Davies suffered a broken wrist, said Oliver Woolhouse, prosecuting.

Nicole Steers defending told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Wright, a man with no previous convictions involving violence, had been polite with Mr Davies when he went to his home.

He did not pose any threat nor was he aggressive, said Miss Steers who added, "It was a very short incident and not at all sustained."

Wright, now living in Carriage Close, Wednesbury, had denied assault causing actual bodily harm but he was convicted by a jury after they retired to consider the evidence at the end of his trial.

He was given a 12 month jail term, suspended for two years and ordered to pay £500 compensation to Mr Davies for the injury he suffered.