A CARLISLE area motorist annoyed by being given a ticket by a Polish traffic warden “slapped it” on to the woman’s shoulder and told her: “Go to Specsavers – and back to your own country.”

Douglas Borland, 56, felt stressed when the warden ticketed his Mercedes while it was in Stanwix Car Park, magistrates heard. He pleaded guilty to a charge of racially aggravated common assault.

George Shelley, prosecuting at the city’s Rickergate court, said the traffic enforcement officer and her colleague were working in Stanwix at 12.30pm on April 15 last year when the female officer noticed the defendant’s white car.

“It was not displaying a ticket or a parking disc,” said the prosecutor. “So the victim issued a ticket this this vehicle. She was then confronted by Mr Borland, who had removed the ticket from the windscreen.

“He slapped the ticket on to [the victim’s] shoulder and then began to aggressively question her and argue about the issuing of the ticket. He also then asked her where she was from and when she said Poland, he said: ‘Thought so; so you need to go to Specsavers and back to your own country.”

When police interviewed Borland, he gave no comment replies. Mr Shelley confirmed that the defendant, of The Old Tannery, Scotby, was a man of good character before his conviction for this offence.

In an impact statement, the woman later said what happened had left her feeling so stressed that her hands were shaking. She had immediately asked her colleague to leave the car park with her.

“I needed to feel safe,” she said. She spoke of feeling that she now needed to look over her should when doing her job in that car park; and the assault had also left her feeling wary in other car parks.

If she were to see the defendant or his vehicle outside of work, she would avoid going near to him to ensure nothing happened, she added.

A Probation officer who interviewed the defendant said he had shown what appeared to be genuine remorse and she judged that he had displayed no underlying discriminatory attitudes.

“It was the situation rather than a pattern of behaviour, and an accumulation of events which triggered an uncharacteristic response,” said the officer.

Andrew Gurney, defending, said that on the day the defendant had been sitting in his car when the warden gave him a ticket, even though Borland was pointing at the ticket he had for the vehicle.

That parking ticket was later cancelled, said the lawyer.

Mr Gurney said: “He was trying to explain that he had a ticket and had done nothing wrong; but he was having difficulty speaking to her.” The defendant now accepted that what he did was “utterly unacceptable,” said the lawyer.

Borland was also disgusted with his comment about the woman returning to Poland but at the time he was going through a divorce from his wife of 20 years. In December last year, he suffered a heart attack.

As a result of his heart condition, he has had to take early retirement.

After hearing the case, magistrates accepted the Probation Service report that concluded there was no pattern of behaviour displayed and that what happened had been a “one off” incident.

They imposed a conditional discharge, with £85 costs and a £122 victim surcharge. Borland must pay his victim compensation of £120 to compensate her for the distress that the assault caused.

The discharge will be for 12 months rather than 6 to reflect the racially aggravated element of the offence. Mr Gurney said that the defendant's £2,000 per month pension meant he will be able to settle his debt to the court within 28 days.

*An earlier version of this story included a Carlisle City Council comment indicating that the penalty charge notice issued to Mr Borland was not cancelled. The City Council has now clarified that the parking ticket was cancelled but this decision is now subject to re-opening, with a decision pending. We apologise to Mr Borland for any embarrassment or misleading impression the Council's earlier statement may have caused.