A MOTORIST punched a 13-year-old boy who gave him a one finger gesture as he drove through Great Harwood.

Blackburn magistrates heard the driver Ryan James Walsh believed one of the boys had thrown something at his car.

And the magistrates accepted there had been 'a degree of provocation' prior to the incident.

Walsh, 23, of Barn Meadow Lane, Great Harwood, pleaded guilty to assaulting the 13-year-old. He was ordered to pay him £200 compensation, complete 21 hours at an attendance centre and pay £85 costs and £60 victim surcharge.

Dominique Howells. prosecuting, said the boy was out with his friends on a Sunday afternoon.

"They thought the defendant was driving too fast as they crossed the road and he accepts putting his middle finger up at him," said Mr Howells. "The defendant got out of his car and the boy ran off into a nearby park."

Mr Howells said the boy thought Walsh had gone but he had gone to another entrance and he approached the boy and asked how old he was.

"The boy then felt a hard blow to his right eye," said Mr Howells. "He felt immediate pain and was knocked to the ground."

He said the boy's eye swelled up and when he went to hospital his eyeball was found to be scratched.

"He had a day off school which was the first day he had missed since starting secondary school," said Mr Howells.

Imran Hussain, defending, said his client was extremely ashamed of the way he had behaved.

"He accepts that regardless of the provocation he ought not to have assaulted the complainant," said Mr Hussain.

He said Walsh was driving quite properly when one of the group of youths threw something at his car causing damage which cost him £100 to have repaired.

"He can't say it was the aggrieved who threw the object but he does know it was him who stuck the middle finger up," said Mr Hussain."It was a single blow and you may feel there was an element of provocation."