He was left covered in blood
The incident happened near the junction of Ryder Road and Scudamore Road in Leicester(Image: Google)
A woman working at a food van who got into a row with a lorry driver hit him on the head with a wooden broom.
Her partner armed himself with a metal bar and joined in, hitting the driver on the head numerous times and leaving him covered in blood.
The lorry driver had parked up overnight to sleep in his cab on the corner of Ryder Road and Scudamore Road in Braunstone Frith, Leicester. He was woken up at 4.30am by the sound of Kirsty Earls opening up her friend’s food truck.
Earls, 46, then banged on the driver’s door and complained he had parked too close to the food truck and also been using her bin. She then phoned her partner, Shaun Potter, 59, who turned up at the scene and started rowing with the driver and taking photographs of the truck.
The driver, fearing he was about to be attacked, tripped Potter up so he fell to the ground. Earls grabbed the broom from the food truck, got behind the driver and struck him on the back of the head.
As she attacked, the driver fought back, causing Earls a black eye and a bruise to her collar bone. Then Potter grabbed a metal bar and struck the driver up to three times to the head.
Earls called Leicestershire Police but when they arrived she was the one arrested and the driver was rushed to Leicester Royal Infirmary. Potter, who had left the scene before the police arrived, was found and arrested.
The pair, of Gooding Avenue in Braunstone, Leicester, appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Monday (December 8) having previously both pleaded to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm without intent.
Judge William Harbage KC told the pair he couldn’t understand how such a “very mundane situation” escalated into violence.
He said: “Polite words should have resolved the situation.”
The pair were both handed nine-month sentences, suspended for 18 months. Potter was ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work while Earls, who has long term health problems, will have to attend 15 days on programmes recommended by the probation service.
Both will each have to pay £100 each towards the £1,956 prosecution bill.
Prosecutor Sinjin Bulbring described what happened after Earls knocked on the driver’s cab that morning in June 2023.
He said: “Earls told him in no uncertain terms he had parked too close to her van and also used her bin, which he denied.
“Earls contacted Mr Potter, who turned up. Mr Potter began taking pictures and making derogatory comments to the lorry driver, who got back into his vehicle to move it.
“Mr Potter continued his general comments and verbal attacks. The driver left the lorry and moved towards Mr Potter. He did push Mr Potter because he anticipated violence.
“He pushed him away and put his foot behind him and tripped him up.
“Earls grabbed a wooden broom from the food truck and approached from behind and struck the lorry driver to the back of the head. He backed off.
“Mr Potter then used that opportunity to arm himself and picked up a metal bar from the food truck and used it to strike the victim to the head a number of times before stopping after realising the damage he was doing.”
He said the lorry driver, who had blood all over his head and arms, had three injuries on his scalp from the attacks with the metal bar and they were treated with glue and painkillers at the infirmary.
Mr Bulbring said Potter had 24 offences including assault and affray on his record but nothing for 25 years. Earls had a common assault conviction from 2015.
Alex Woolfson, representing Potter, asked the judge to ignore his clients’ previous crimes due to their age. He added that his client claimed he had been punched in the face – rather than tripped over – by the lorry driver.
Pree Brada, for Earls, said her client had “long-standing challenges with her mental health and physical difficulties”. She added that Earls was “minding her own business until she saw her partner flattened to the floor” by the lorry driver.
