A sheriff said he could “understand” why a raging Dundee gardener destroyed a parking ticket machine with an axe after being issued with multiple tickets outside his home.
A member of the public filmed Myles Bancroft as he took his frustrations out on the machine in the West End.
As he fined him £600 for the vandalism, Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith told Bancroft: “Regrettably, you will receive some publicity because of the nature of the offence and your employers might take the view it is gross misconduct.
“This was a serious matter.
“No doubt it would have been alarming for the member of the public who filmed you.
“You attacked the machine.
“Whilst I understand why you took your anger out on the machine, there were other ways of dealing with it than destroying the parking meter.”
Axe attack
Dundee Sheriff Court heard previously how a passer-by filmed Bancroft, 39, as he came out of a Perth Road close swinging the axe before using it to destroy the local authority meter at 9am on September 11 2023.
Fiscal depute Larissa Milligan said: “It was a single head axe with a long wooden handle.
“He was swinging it at his side and was then observed to continually strike a parking meter with the axe, causing damage to it.”
Bancroft, of Perth Road, admitted wilfully or recklessly destroying or damaging property and having an offensive weapon in Mill Wynd car park.
Debts
Solicitor John Boyle, defending, said his client is an NHS Trust gardener with an alcohol addiction problem
“His address backs onto it and he uses the car park.
“He had been abstinent for a significant period but the week before this he relapsed and was under the influence of alcohol.
“He had received a number of parking tickets that week because he had been drinking in the house and had not tended to the parking meter.”
Mr Boyle said Bancroft had not drunk since the incident and is seeking help for his addiction.
He said his client had a number of debts to pay.
He said Bancroft had been off work at the time of the incident but had since returned, although he is now formally under investigation and suspended on full pay.
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