MAIL VAN DRIVER 'PUNCHED OFF-DUTY OFFICER'

[Standard Dave]

09:00 - 06 March 2008

An Off-duty policeman suffered a broken cheekbone after he was attacked by a Royal Mail van driver, a court heard.

PC Stephen Arnold, an advanced driver at the Riverside roads policing unit in Nottingham, was allegedly hit in the face by Jeffrey Haynes on March 30.

Mr Arnold allowed a Ford Mondeo to pull out in front of his car from a petrol station as vehicles slowed at traffic lights in Gateford Road, Worksop, Nottingham Crown Court heard.


A red van was close behind Mr Arnold's car and when he speeded up, so did the van, the court heard.

Mr Arnold, who had finished work and was in plain clothes, then saw the van's lights flashing, heard a bang and thought he had been hit. Both driver got out of their vehicles.

Mr Arnold told the court yesterday: "I got out and quite literally said, 'What was that about?'

The court heard that Haynes, 46, of Carlton Road Post Office, Worksop, asked: "Are you doing that on purpose?"

Mr Arnold said Haynes walked quickly towards him and he responded by reverting to his unarmed defence tactic training by showing open hands.

Mr Arnold was then pushed into his door, the court heard.

"He was 'bellying' into me," Mr Arnold told the court. "My concern was there may have been something that had come off the vehicle or something was at the rear. I put my hands on his stomach and said, 'Get back'."

The court heard Haynes ran at the officer again. Mr Arnold said pushed Haynes backwards with "everything he could muster" and said he was a police officer.

As Mr Arnold returned to his car he was punched in the face, the court heard.

"I was little more than a rag doll holding on to his lapel," the officer said. By then police had been called.

Haynes denies inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Nottingham Evening Post

[Ducky]

So going postal isn't just an American thing?