Wet and annoyed

AN UNEMPLOYED labourer who knocked a bus driver’s portion of chips out of his hand because he had not stopped to pick him and a friend up on Lerwick’s Esplanade was fined £200 at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday.

The court heard 22 year old Andrew Cheyne, of 29 Commercial Street, Lerwick, was angry because he had to walk through the pouring rain to meet an appointment because they had missed the bus on 8 April.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said Cheyne confronted the driver who was eating chips during his break, demanding to know why he had not stopped and before he could answer knocked the chips out of his hand.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said the 22 year old was “wet and annoyed” because the bus driver had driven past him and his friend without stopping, making “a hand gesture” as he did so.

But the fiscal insisted the pair “gave no indication” they wanted the bus to stop.

Cheyne admitted causing a breach of the peace by shouting, swearing and acting aggressively, behaviour which Sheriff Philip Mann described as “unacceptably brutish”.