Customer who was felled by bank rage

ALLAN Jones thought the bank teller was free when he went to cash a cheque. But another customer, Martin Smith, accused him of jumping the queue.

There was an argument, a push, and eventually Smith was asked to leave by the manageress after threatening to 'knock his ****ing block off'.

But the bank rage incident was far from over, magistrates in Macclesfield were told.

Smith, 32, was still furious two days later when he spotted Jones in the street. He pushed the bookseller to the ground, threatened him and yelled: 'That's for Monday in the bank.'

Smith, who works at a carpet store near the Royal Bank of Scotland branch, denied assaulting Jones last May but was found guilty after a three-hour hearing. He was fined £250 with £200 costs and ordered to pay £150 compensation to his victim.

Smith claimed Jones had pushed him violently as they argued inside the bank, but employee Lucy Fleet told magistrates he had tripped.

Jones said: 'He was quite aggressive and insisted he was at the front of the queue. My attitude was that this guy was a bully and I wasn't going to give in.'