A bus firm employee kicked and punched a colleague after a bust-up at the Elgin depot.
Craig Sinclair’s violence was a culmination of bad blood at Stagecoach’s East Road facility, which had seen him storm off his shift days earlier.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard he told his manager he was “done” and “wouldn’t be coming back” – remarks his boss took as a verbal resignation.
It was only after Sinclair received a letter confirming his termination that he seemed to have a change of heart – and things turned violent.
Sinclair, 27, stormed back into the depot four days after his apparent resignation and attacked the colleague.
Fiscal depute Emma MacEwan said the incident happened around 10pm on November 12 last year.
‘You haven’t heard the last of this’
Fiscal depute Emma MacEwan said: “He came down the corridor passing the manager’s office and she called his name to try to speak to him, however he kept walking.
“She heard him say ‘f*** off’ and ‘don’t f****** speak to me’ before he entered her office placing a letter on her desk.
“He was shouting ‘this is not a resignation’ and she asked him to calm down.”
Sinclair then shouted: “You haven’t heard the last of this, I am taking this higher.”
He then stormed out of the office slamming the door so hard the woman thought it was going to come off its hinges.
Another witness overheard the shouting coming from the manager’s office and heard Sinclair saying something about tools and a contract before emerging from the room.
He shoulder-barged past a colleague, who asked if he was okay and what was wrong.
Sinclair responded to those concerns by punching the man on the back of the head, continuously punching and kicking him on the body and pushing him to the floor.
Punched and kicked colleague in workplace
The fiscal added: “The witness tried to get free of him and push him to the floor to restrain him.
“Other witnesses heard the commotion in the corridor and they began trying to pull the accused off of the man.
“They managed to get him off and into an office to calm down.”
Sinclair’s victim was left with scratches and cuts to his face and some shoulder pain.
The police were contacted and he was cautioned and arrested.
Spoke for himself in the dock
Sinclair did not have a solicitor and represented himself in court.
He admitted charges of assault to injury and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Sheriff Robert McDonald told him he had a limited criminal record but said that “whatever his reasoning” his behaviour on that day had been “completely unacceptable”.
He fined Sinclair, of Glebe Road, Kinloss, £840.
A Stagecoach spokeswoman has confirmed “internal disciplinary proceedings” are ongoing in connection with the incident.
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