AN ACCOUNTANT suffered a vicious assault at the hands of a 16-year-old when he asked him not to jump the queue at a takeaway.

Andrew Blackledge, 33, suffered a broken cheekbone and a cut requiring four stitches above his left eye after he was punched in an unprovoked attack in Clitheroe.

Mr Blackledge, who works for Lancashire County Council, said he feared he would be left partially blind following the incident at Romero Pizza House in Wellgate.

He slammed a court’s decision not to jail the youngster and said he was being allowed to ‘get away’ with the crime.

He said: “This guy has got away with paying some compensation when he could have killed me.”

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied the offence and was due to face trial at Blackburn Youth Court last week. But following a review of the takeaway’s CCTV footage he pleaded guilty to a charge of causing actual bodily harm.

He was handed a nine-month referral order and told to pay £120 in court costs and £400 in compensation to his victim.

Mr Blackledge said he had been out for a few drinks with his girlfriend before they decided to get a pizza. He went to the takeaway around midnight and was in a queue when three youths entered the restaurant.

He said: “This young guy came flying in. He jumped straight to the front of the bar and shouted over to the man behind the counter. “I said ‘excuse me I was here first, I’m waiting’. He looked at me and his two friends behind me said something like ‘we’ll go first old man’.

“I did a 180 degree turn to face them and they moved towards me, so I held up my hands towards my chest to protect myself. There was a bit of a coming together and one of them dropped his phone. I went to pick it up and he pushed me, and because I was losing my balance I held his arm. Then the first guy who I couldn’t see came from behind me and started hitting me.”