A BP worker who launched an “unnecessary and ridiculous” attack on two customers at his Romford petrol station’s forecourt has been ordered to serve 160 hours community service.

Mahison Janahan Gobiritnam, aged 28, of Capthorne Avenue, Harrow, was cleaning petrol pumps at BP's garage on the A12 Eastern Avenue on May 1 this year when he was involved in the altercation with two members of the public.

Gobiritnam had been cleaning the pumps with a spray whilst wearing headphones when some of the fluid he was using made its way through gaps between the pump and into the face of a woman filling up at an adjacent pump.

As he was wearing headphones, she made her way round the pumps to him and asked him to stop until she had finished.

At this point he swore at her and told her: "I don't care."

When the customer pointed out he shouldn't talk to her that way, Gobiritnam grabbed her arm and pushed her away swearing at her again.

At this point, another member of the public who had been filling up their car at the petrol station, having seen Gobiritnam push the woman, intervened.

Gobiritnam punched that man in the face.

Police were called, and upon being questioned by officers the 28-year-old immediately accepted he shouldn't have behaved the way he did.

He told police: "Yeah, I punched him in the face and I shouldn't have done that.

"I'm sorry."

Gobiritnam's defence solicitor, from Raj Law, told the court the defendnat lives with his parents and is financially dependant on them.

He had previously pleaded guilty to one count of common assault regarding the punching of the man, but had denied assaulting the woman at the start of the altercation and was convicted at Romford Magistrate's Court yesterday (Wednesday, September 4).

At Barkingside Magistrates' Court today (September 5) Gobiritnam was sentenced to a 12-month community order involving 160 hours unpaid work in the community, with a 15-day rehabilitation requirement.

He was also ordered to pay £535 to the courts and £100 in compensation to the man whose face he had punched."

Having passed sentence, chief magistrate Nigel Bower told Gobiritnam: "Your actions on that day were as unnecessary as they were ridiculous.

"You need to take note that if you find employment again you shouldn't act in such a manner because you know what the consequences are."