A 23-YEAR-OLD Darwen man who shouted a gay slur at a hairdresser and then attacked him has been ordered to pay his victim £450 compensation.

Blackburn magistrates heard that hairdresser Damien Cassidy got stuck in traffic as he drove off the forecourt and Ryan Hammond ran over and smashed the driver's side window with his fist.

He then punched Mr Cassidy in the face, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the broken window before gripping him around the jaw.

"This was an unprovoked attack for no reason other than Hammond didn't like the way the other man looked," said Peter Wild, prosecuting.

Hammond, 23, of Pothouse Lane, Darwen, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and assault. As well as being ordered to pay the compensation and costs of £35 he was made subject to a community rehabilitation order for 12 months.

Mr Wild said the incident had taken place at 6.15pm at a petrol station on Blackburn Road when Mr Cassidy was filling his car. A car in which Hammond was a passenger pulled on to the forecourt and Hammond shouted: "That's a gay haircut."

Mr Cassidy ignored the comment and others that followed and simply told Hammond to leave it out.

Nick Cassidy, defending, said "My client had been drinking on the day of the incident and his memory is vague."