Pensioner attacked fellow motorist with pickaxe handle in blue badge parking dispute

A pensioner coshed a man with a pickaxe handle after he was told he shouldn’t park on double yellow lines. David Iredale, 65, ‘thought he could park where he wanted’ because he held a blue disability badge, and so abandoned his Mazda outside a bank. But when labourer David Partington complained he’d been blocked in, Iredale went at him with the weapon, leaving him with a gash to the side of his head. Mercedeh Jabbari, prosecuting, said: “Before he knew it, the defendant was very close to him with what he describes as being a bat.



“It later transpires it was in fact a pickaxe handle. The defendant struck him to the side of his head.” Miss Jabbari told the court how Mr Partington had parked in the car park of Lloyds Bank in Blackpool, before returning to his van to find he had been blocked in. He re-entered the branch and asked who owned the silver Mazda outside, to which Iredale replied: “I will be out in a minute.” Mr Partington waited for Iredale to return to his vehicle, when he shouted to the victim, “I can park where I want, I’ve got a blue badge”. But as Mr Partington informed him this was not the case, Iredale returned to his vehicle and retrieved the pickaxe handle from the boot.

Miss Jabbari told the court how Mr Partington managed to grab the weapon before falling to the floor. A woman witnessed the events and went to help Mr Partington who lay bleeding, and an ambulance that happened to pass by took him to hospital for treatment. Miss Jabbari described Mr Partington as being ‘in a daze’ and said the laceration to his head had to be glued. In a victim impact statement, Mr Partington said he had been left with a visible scar, made more prominent by his lack of hair, and described being now ‘apprehensive about approaching people he does not know’.



David Pojur, defending Iredale, said the incident on May 26 was ‘essentially out of character’. He said his client walks with a stick, after recently having two strokes and having epilepsy. “He has worked all his life and lived with his mother up until her death,” Mr Pojur said. “He cares for his cat and the cat is 27. There’s not much he does except for visit the bank which he did on this day. He regrets the matter could not be sorted out between themselves amicably.” Iredale, of Bispham, Lancashire, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm. Judge Christopher Cornwall handed Iredale a four-month jail term, suspended for 12 months. Iredale was also ordered to pay £1,010 in costs, which includes £500 compensation to be paid to Mr Partington.