Man punched tractor driver

A Pinchbeck man punched an innocent tractor driver in a road rage incident, after another had inadvertently clipped his car.

Leigh Squance, 46, of Glenside North, who admitted assault by beating, was said to have jumped up onto the step of the tractor, opened the door and punched the driver, Kevin Bright, on the side of his face.

Prosecuting at Boston Magistrates Court, Paul Wood said a tractor in front of Mr Bright’s tractor clipped the side of Squance’s car with his trailer on October 21 at West Pinchbeck, although he ‘probably didn’t know he had’, and carried on without stopping.

He said Mr Bright pulled over but Squance stopped his car, came over to Mr Bright’s tractor and punched him causing bruising and leaving him shocked.

He said that when interviewed by the police, he said he had been ‘angry’.

Mr Wood said Squance had previous convictions for assault, the most recent in 2019.

Mitigating, Philippa Chatterton said Squance was on medication for anxiety and had lost his employment during lockdown and subsequently getting injured.

She said Squance had assumed Mr Bright must know the tractor driver who had clipped his car but had instantly regretted his actions and had apologised.

After hearing from the probation service, the magistrates imposed a community order with 15 days of rehabilitation and an electronically monitored curfew between the hours of 8pm and 6am for the next two months.

He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to Mr Bright and a total of £129 in court costs and charges.