Morrison's, in Freemen's Common, Leicester, Winston Gosling, Leicester crown court

A motorist lost his temper and pulled a machete from his car when another driver accused him of jumping the queue at a petrol station.

Winston Gosling brandished the weapon at the victim in front of his wife and other shocked motorists waiting at the pumps at Morrison's, in Freemen's Common, Leicester.

Gosling received a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £200 costs.

A hearing at Leicester Crown Court was told the incident started when the victim, believing Gosling had jumped the queue, pulled in front of the defendant's Vauxhall Astra.

Gosling shouted an insult about the driver's weight and the driver swore back at him, making a racist remark.

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Both men got out of their cars and the victim, who suffers from arthritis and has mobility problems, bumped his stomach into the defendant.

Gosling then got a "machete-type knife" out of his car and waved it in the air, prosecutor Alexander Davies told the court.

Another motorist intervened and calmed the situation.

The driver and his wife were both left "shocked and upset" following the incident, which happened at 2.30pm on Saturday, March 10.

The complainant, a former bus driver, suffered sleepless nights afterwards, the court heard.

Gosling (60), of Hillsborough Crescent, Glen Parva, admitted threatening behaviour and possessing a blade in a public place.

Paul Prior, in mitigating, said Gosling had the machete in his car as he had used it to cut long grass at his partner's garden earlier in the day.

"He then went to Morrison's intending to purchase petrol," Mr Prior said. "He had no intention of pushing in.

"There was a long queue. He changed his mind and decided to leave and was trying to get out of the petrol station when his path was blocked."

The court heard the complainant was not being prosecuted for using racist language towards Gosling. Mr Prior said it amounted to provocation and added: "Had the language from the complainant not been used, the weapon probably wouldn't have been produced."

The court heard that Gosling has been a skilled machine operator for 27 years, has no previous convictions and has cycled hundreds of miles to raise money for charities.

He received a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £200 costs.

Judge Simon Hammond said both the complainant and defendant were "perfectly decent blokes" who should never have got out of their cars or exchanged words.

He said: "The defendant has done 60 years without getting into trouble. I hope he's learnt his lesson."