Driver told to pay £1,000 damages to temporarily blinded victim

Michael Watkins

A WORKMAN temporarily blinded a traffic warden by throwing a gallon of toxic paint in his face.
Michael Watkins, 41, covered traffic warden Philip Usoh in black paint as his truck was being ticketed in Leigh Street, Bloomsbury, on September 2 last year.
A jury at Wood Green Crown Court took little more than an hour to find Watkins guilty of actual bodily harm. They rejected his defence that he had accidentally slipped and spilt the paint.
Mr Usoh said: “He didn’t say anything – he just walked up and threw the paint. It was a complete surprise and it hurt a lot.”
Fining Watkins £1,000 and ordering him to pay another £1,000 in compensation to Mr Usoh and £750 in costs, Judge Peter Latham told him: “Everybody knows it can be irritating to get a parking ticket but that doesn’t excuse your actions.
“It’s clear parking attendants are entitled to do their jobs with the protection of the law.
“If it were not for your previous good character you would be facing a prison sentence.”
Mr Usoh, who had worked for Camden Council for just three months, needed treatment for a damaged cornea and was off work for eight weeks.
The court had heard that Watkins, managing director of Euston Road maintenance firm 24/7, moved his truck from a single yellow line in Marchmont Street after Mr Usoh told him he could not park there while he repaired damaged railings outside a hostel.
He parked in a pay-and-display bay around the corner in Leigh Street, but did not buy a ticket.
When Mr Usoh came across the vehicle the second time, he began issuing a £100 fine.
But Watkins opened a can of paint from the back of his truck, walked up to within a couple of feet of the warden and threw it in his face.
Mr Usoh let out a cry of pain and ran into Marchmont Street, where fellow traffic wardens came to his assistance. Police arrested Watkins at the scene.
He claimed to have bought a pay-and-display ticket but the time marked on it was just one minute before an ambulance was called, suggesting it was bought after the assault, prosecutor Ken Dow said.
Photographs taken of Watkins later that day showed him smiling, but also covered in paint.
The case was brought after Camden Council and contractor NCP vowed to tackle attacks on traffic wardens, many of whom are African immigrants, like Mr Usoh, and have been subjected to racist abuse from drivers.