Father brandished blade from lunch box during 'road rage' row
A ‘hardworking’ father who pulled a blade out from his lunch box before waving it through his car window has been given a suspended sentence.
Knife-wielding Claudiu Popaz grabbed the three-inch blade during the ‘road rage’ row, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The 22-year-old immigrant, of Kenilworth Court, Dudley, claimed he brandished the knife after being threatened by another driver in Quinton.
Sentencing, Recorder Julian Taylor said: “I don’t want to send a man to immediate custody who is in a job, is remorseful and has pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
“I hope this is an isolated incident. You were in possession of a knife and you shouldn’t have been. That was a very foolish thing to do.
"Do not take any knives out of the house. If you need to cut up your lunch, do it before you leave the house.”
Plain-clothed police officers in an unmarked vehicle began observing Popaz after suspecting he was driving while using a mobile in Hagley Road West at 5.15pm.
They then saw the driver of a Vauxhall Astra overtake Popaz’s Ford Focus before trying to force their way back in front of the defendant, prosecutor Miss Fiona Cortese said.
Popaz accelerated in an attempt to stop the driver coming towards him before the two cars pulled up alongside each other at traffic lights.
Officers spotted the defendant lean across his car and then wave the blade through the window, gesturing with the knife, the court heard on Tuesday.
Popaz confessed he grabbed the blade from his lunch box but claimed he was unaware it was a criminal offence in the UK.
Defence barrister Mr Stephen Hamblett said Popaz, who admitted possessing a bladed article, is the breadwinner of his family.
Mr Hamblett said Popaz had a good work ethic, facing the daily commute from his Dudley home to Banbury, Oxfordshire. Popaz came to the UK four years ago from Greece.
Popaz was handed an eight-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, 150 hours unpaid work and £360 costs.
