A MAN who drove his car at a traffic warden has been handed a community order.

Mohammed Aso Ahmed was parked on double yellow lines outside a food store in Charminster Road on June 1 when he was told to move on by a civil enforcement officer.

But as he pulled away the 23-year-old swerved onto the pavement causing the officer, George Bailiff, to jump sharply aside. The officer later described himself as "shaken" by the incident, but he was not hurt.

Prosecutor Simon Jones said: "The actions of the civil enforcement officer were simply to ask for the car to be moved.

"The defendant took umbrage, but he did move the car, directed towards the civil enforcement officer.

"He had to take evasive action. That is the common assault. The defendant then drove away."

The court heard Ahmed, of Stone Gardens, Bournemouth, had already been warned to move the Volkswagen by Mr Bailiff a short time earlier.

In mitigation, James Newton-Price said the defendant, who has prior convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and threatening behaviour, had "overreacted" and accepted responsibility for his actions.

"He wants to apologise to the victim, he appreciates he had every right to issue him with a parking ticket," he said.

"He is basically a decent young man from a very good family."

He said Ahmed, whose family migrated from "Kurdistan" some 14 years ago, was studying at college with the aim of going to university, and that the three days he had spent in custody while waiting to be sentenced had "taught him the virtues of better self-restraint".

Sentencing at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, Judge Peter Johnson said: "I accept you did not hit him.

"If you had you would now be facing an immediate custodial sentence.

"This was an unpleasant offence against someone trying to perform their public duty, trying to keep the road clear."

Referring to the defendant's previous convictions, he added: "It is imperative you keep a grip on that temper."

Ahmed, who admitted one count of assault and another of failing to surrender, was handed a one year community order and ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and attend a Thinking Skills course.

He will also have to pay the £900 criminal courts charge.

A not guilty plea was entered to a separate charge of dangerous driving and not taken further.