yesterday.

Denzel Simmons, 30, of Crane Lane, pleaded "guilty with an explanation'' to the offence which stemmed from an incident on November 15 of last year.

The court heard that traffic warden number three, Grace Richardson, was on duty at Front Street when she came across a light Suzuki van parked outside Davidson's without a parking voucher on display.

She proceeded to write a ticket and placed it on the driver's side of the front windscreen then moved on to the next vehicle.

As Ms Richardson did this she heard a male voice exclaim: "What's this for?'' She assumed the speaker was the driver of the van and told Simmons that he needed to have a voucher.

Simmons then took the ticket and stuck it on Ms Richardson's back. She managed to take it off and put it back on the van as Simmons drove away.

Simmons went to Hamilton Police Station on January 7 and admitted in a statement that the incident had taken place. However, he denied Ms Richardson's claim that he slapped her on her back with the ticket.

He admitted to officers that he was wrong, but was mad about getting the ticket.

Simmons told the court: "I didn't realise putting the sticker on her back was assault. If she put it on my back would that be assault?'' Senior Magistrate Will Francis replied: "You must realise that this court has to protect people in positions like traffic wardens. This may seem minor to you but it is assault.

"This court has to protect people who are only doing their job from this kind of nonsense. She did her duty by ticketing your vehicle when you did not have a parking voucher displayed.

"All you had to do was come here and pay your fine. You could have done it that day. That's all you had to do.''