A LORRY driver must pay a brewery worker £1,000 compensation for breaking his arm with a metal bar.

Staff at the Heineken brewery in Tadcaster separated Clive Helliwell, 54, and Craig Low when they argued over Helliwell’s driving, said Victoria Lamballe, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

But they came together again at Helliwell’s lorry where the former Royal Navy and Army serviceman took a metal bar from a tool box and repeatedly hit Mr Low on the head and arm as the victim tried to protect his head.

A witness said Mr Low spent 30 minutes “drifting in and out of consciousness” with blood streaming from his forehead. He also had a fractured arm.

Recorder Mark Hill QC told Helliwell: “You should never have taken that metal bar. You should never have wielded it as you did.”

He gave Helliwell a six-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months because he had never been in trouble with the police before and had shown remorse and Mr Low had “pursued” him to the lorry before the assault.

Helliwell, of Angerton Way, Woodside, Bradford, who was working for an agency, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm. As well as the suspended sentence and compensation, he must do 100 hours’ unpaid work, pay £350 prosecution costs and pay an £80 statutory surcharge.

For Helliwell, Tom Rushbrooke said an incident in his Army days meant he was hyper-sensitive to the possibility he might be assaulted and when Mr Low pursued him he feared he would be attacked. He was not normally violent.

Miss Lamballe said Mr Low told police Helliwell attacked him without provocation. Mr Low said the driver was exceeding the speed limit in the yard and had to brake so suddenly his wheels locked. He approached Helliwell in the tea room and told him: “You need to learn to read, mate.”

Helliwell denied the bad driving and the argument began. Helliwell has since changed jobs and asked his employers not to send him near Tadcaster, said Mr Rushbrooke.