Driver gets parking ticket - reverses car into traffic warden

The dad-of-four appeared in court charged with two counts of assault over the incident, which took place in West Street, Fareham, on October 31.

The 29-year-old denied the charges but he was found guilty after a one-day trial before Fareham magistrates.

The court heard that traffic warden Stuart Lancaster, who was working for Fareham Borough Council, had given Adegbesan a ticket for parking in a loading-only bay, while he went to the dry-cleaners on Westbury Road.

Prosecuting, Graham Heath, said: ‘This was an incident which covers two offences committed in the town centre.

‘At the end of the road there’s an area where cars stop briefly.

‘The defendant had left his car – it may well have been for short time – but unfortunately for him a traffic warden was around and he was completing a fixed penalty when he (Adegbesan) returned.

‘He said words to the effect of “you are not putting that on my car” and the warden went to put the item on the windscreen and he was pushed back by the defendant, who then grabbed hold of his hand.

‘The victim stepped away and went again to the windscreen of the vehicle.

‘Despite the car pointing the wrong way to exit the road, he then rather aggressively spun the car around and reversed straight back at the traffic warden.

‘The traffic warden said he had no time to take action and he was struck on his thigh.

‘He had to put his hands up to stop himself falling under the wheels.’

The warden, who suffered minor injuries, then pressed his panic button and called 999. The incident was caught on the body-worn camera on the traffic warden’s uniform.

Adegbesan denied the charges, saying that he had not intended to hit the victim, although he was found guilty due to his ‘recklessness’.

The court heard that Adegbesan had previous convictions, including obstructing a police officer in 2009, which he had spent one month in prison for.

Defence Stephen Bentley said that Adegbesan had not been in trouble since and that he was working full-time, and that despite his job requiring police checks, it had agreed to continue employing him.

Mr Bentley said: ‘He has paid the parking ticket and in retrospect, if he had not been so het up by any injustice he believed to have incurred as he thought he had only been there a short amount of time, he should have walked away and paid the ticket or appealed, but now he’s had to pay the ticket and more.’

Chairman of the magistrates David Pickton-Jones said the traffic warden was ‘a public servant simply doing his job’.

Adegbesan, of Fair Acre Rise, Fareham, was sentenced to a 12-month community order. He must do 200 hours of unpaid work, plus he must pay £100 compensation to the traffic warden, £620 in court costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

Council says prosecution should act as a warning to others

THE prosecution of Oladipo Adegbesan should act as a warning to others, according to Fareham Borough Council’s executive member for public protection, Cllr Trevor Cartwright.

He said: ‘This prosecution sends out a clear message that we take the safety of our officers extremely seriously and that we have zero tolerance on anyone who verbally or physically assaults them.

‘Luckily in this case, the officer was wearing a body-worn video camera that allowed us to take appropriate action, as all instances are reported to the police for investigation.

‘Civil enforcement officers are out there to provide a service to our residents and are just doing their job.’