A BRADFORD man who brandished an axe in a roadside row has avoided jail after a judge heard that he was of previous good character.

Ross Normington, 34, of Fieldway, Bradford, was driving on Airevalley Road at about 6pm on April 27 last year when he was involved in a traffic incident.

Philip Adams, prosecuting, said both Normington and the other driver pulled into a lay-by.

She refused to speak to Normington who, Bradford Crown Court heard, was “upset and agitated”.

Instead, the woman called her partner who was driving on the same road. On arrival, he and Normington exchanged words in a “heated” conversation.

Normington responded by taking a hand axe from the boot of his car and approached the other man. Both he and his partner were described in court as being “in genuine fear”.

Normington, who said he chopped down trees for a living, was described as being “angry and tense”. However, his partner, who was travelling with him, intervened in the situation, which calmed Normington down. He then put the axe back in his car.

When a police officer arrived he spoke with the man and then with Normington, who opened the boot of his car and handed over the axe. He was then arrested.

In interview, Normington said he was a tree surgeon and that he had brandished the axe “as a scare tactic”. However he realised what he was doing was wrong and put it back.

Normington pleaded guilty to being in possession of a bladed article in public.

Deputy Circuit Judge Peter Armstrong said Normington’s lack of previous convictions and “glowing” references from employers and family meant he would not send him to prison.

He said: “You know you should not have got this axe out of the boot of your car.

“Tempers can rise but the way to deal with these things is to wait for the police rather than take things into your own hands.”

He imposed a 12-month community order with 40 hours of unpaid work and ordered Normington to pay £400 costs.

The axe is to be destroyed.