Teaching assistant glassed bus driver, in stag-night brawl in York nightclub

Teaching assistant Christopher Raymond Panter, 25, attacked the other man in Kuda nightclub in Clifford Street, exactly a month before his wedding.

Panter cut the bus driver's hand so deeply the tendons were visible, leaving him unable to drive, grip properly and or feel anything in that hand, said David Lampitt, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

The driver also suffered cuts to his head, and his family suffered financially and emotionally, said Mr Lampitt.

Panter and his friends had travelled from Manchester for his stag party on February 7 and had drunk in a Wetherspoon's pub, the Five Lions in Walmgate and Society in Rougier Street before arriving at Kuda at about midnight.

Panter, of Furze Walk in Manchester, pleaded guilty to wounding the bus driver. He was charged with the offence before his wedding. He works as a teaching assistant at a Manchester academy, which had postponed any disciplinary hearing until after the court case, said his barrister Nicholas Barker.

"Any prison sentence would bring to a shuddering close his career," said the barrister. He submitted a sheaf of testimonials, which the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said showed Panter to be a man who had done much for his community and had "enormous potential to benefit the community in the future."

York Crown Court

The judge said: "I cannot lose sight of the consequences of what happened. This whole upset was over and done with in no more than 30 seconds, but it wasn't over as far as the bus driver was concerned."

He ordered Panter to pay £2,500 compensation to the bus driver and to do 250 hours' unpaid work.

He said Panter had behaved entirely out of character and was unlikely to be back before the courts again. The incident had been started by others and Panter had not acted until he himself had been knocked to the ground. He had lashed out believing he had been under threat without realising he still had a bottle in his hand and he accepted he had gone too far.

The judge warned that heavy drinking could lead to flash points when people misinterpreted pushing on a crowded dance floor in the wrong way.

He saw CCTV of the incident that showed men dancing with bottles in their hand and violence beginning between the bus driver and one of Panter's friends.