999 operator tells man being attacked with knuckleduster to ask for thug's name

A road rage thug threatened a taxi driver with a knuckleduster after the victim rang 999 - and was told to get the yob’s name and address.

Russell Barnard, 28, swore at Nazar Abbas and refused to swap details after the pair had a prang.

But when Mr Abbas called police to say Barnard was being aggressive, an officer suggested the cabbie try again for his name.

As he did so, Barnard grabbed the knuckleduster from his Renault car and warned the victim: “F*** off, I’m not going to give my details - I’m going to smash your face in instead”.

The victim had to lock himself in his private hire cab.

Road rage thug Russell Barnard threatened the driver with a knuckle duster (Cavendish Press)

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And a court heard when police arrived they found an axe in the footwell of Barnard’s car.

Prosecutor Lisa Boocock said: “Mr Abbas tried to exchange details with the defendant, who instead refused to do so and drove off to a nearby car park.

“Mr Abbas followed him into that car park and the two of them got out of the vehicles. But the defendant was very aggressive with Mr Abbas, who was he asking him for details for insurance purposes.

“He told Mr Abbas to ‘f*** off and go away.”

The taxi driver rang the police and was told to ask Barnard again for his details.

Nazar Abbas was advised to get Barnard's name and address despite the threat to his safety (Cavendish Press)

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But when he did, the defendant produced the knuckle duster, which he had on his right hand.

Barnard refused to cooperate with police after they arrived at the scene in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, last October,

The prosecutor added: “The defendant was placed into the back of a police car.

“He was spoken to by the police and he refused to give the officer his details. He was discovered by way of checking the keeper details of the car.

“Police recovered the knuckle duster and an axe on the footwell of the car. This is road rage without the assault.”

At Manchester’s Minshull Street crown court, Barnard, from Hale, admitted using threatening behaviour and possessing an offensive weapon.

He was given a 12 months community order and 100 hours unpaid work.

The court in Manchester heard Barnard was suffering with mental health problems (MEN Media)

His defence lawyer Hunter Gray said: “There is a diagnosis of a mental disorder which creates risk.

“On this particular occasion he was emotionally very low. There is genuine remorse.’’

In a statement Mr Abbas said: “I felt very vulnerable and I now refuse to operate as a taxi driver in that area.”