A LORRY driver attacked a man with a crowbar and bit him on the head during an argument about a missing load.

Vasileios Partalis, 29, flew into a rage after arriving at the Moor Lane Industrial Estate in Sherburn in Elmet and finding that water bottles he was supposed to collect weren’t there.

Partalis blamed forklift-truck driver John Edwards, 49, who told the trucker there was no load for him to collect.

Partalis went back to his cab, grabbed a crowbar and stormed back into the depot where he set upon Mr Edwards, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Ben Campbell said that during the ensuing scuffle, both men went to ground and, as Partalis got on top, he wrapped the crowbar around Mr Edward’s neck. pulled him backwards and bit Mr Edwards on the back of his head, arm and hand.

Mr Edwards suffered bite marks to his head.

Another worker separated the men and police were called. Partalis was arrested and charged with wounding with intent. He denied the charge and appeared for trial on Tuesday when he was accompanied by a Greek interpreter.

Part-way through the prosecution case, the CPS downgraded the charge to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, to which Partalis pleaded guilty.

Partalis, who moved from Greece to the UK to look for work, also admitted one count of having an offensive weapon.

The court heard there were previous disputes between the men before the incident on September 13, 2015.

York Press:

Mr Edwards said in court: “He was kneeling over me - the bite happened while I was on my hands and knees,” added Mr Edwards. He bit me on the arm and head. He said three or four times that he was going to kill me.”

Christopher Morton, for Partalis, said the trucker had lost his job because of the attack and now worked for an agency.

Circuit judge Paul Worsley QC told Partalis: “Whatever the problems in the past, you were wholly unjustified in returning to your cab and taking out a crowbar. He (Mr Edwards) was concerned you were going to hit him with the crowbar."

Patalis, of Womersley Road, Knottingley, was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence and ordered to carry out 285 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Worsley also ordered him to pay Mr Edwards £250 compensation and £250 costs.

The judge said Partalis had been saved by his lack of previous convictions and the fact that he was in work, adding: “You have been fortunate not to go to prison.