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Teenager faces jail after brutal attack on traffic warden

A teenager has admitted attacking a Wolverhampton traffic warden who was kicked and stamped on the head in a brutal street assault during broad daylight.

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The attack on traffic warden Charlie Weston was caught on camera, right

The 21-year-old warden, Charlie Weston, said he felt 'lucky to be alive' after the horrifying ordeal.

Danyal Bashir, aged 19, today pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Charlie, who lives in Wolverhampton, was on duty last month in Birmingham for just 10 minutes when he was knocked to the floor, kicked in the throat and stamped on the head by a gang of yobs, including Bashir.

WATCH: Shocking footage captures the attack

He said: “I didn’t notice people coming up behind me, I just turned and saw a man in a hoody with the cords tightened so I couldn’t see his face.

“I had almost booked someone further down the road for bad parking, but decided not to, and when this guy approached me he was asking ‘who do you think you are?’

“I went to say ‘excuse me’, and that’s when one of his friends kicked me from the side and threw me to the floor.

“I shouted ‘what do you think you’re playing at?’ but then they started taking kicks at me and continued to try and stamp on my head. I feel lucky with how I got out of the situation, I do genuinely feel lucky to be alive – I didn’t think I was going to get back up. I got hit by a car before, and that was life-threatening, but I feel like I was in more trouble here."

The gang, who assaulted the ex-security guard at about 5.10pm on September 14 on Hartopp Road at its junction with College Road, also stole his bike as they fled.

He said he managed to phone a colleague while he was being attacked and they raised the alarm. Despite staying in hospital for almost four hours, he returned back to work at 10am on Saturday morning determined not to let his team down.

"I think they were using the ticket as the excuse for what they did," he added. "But the bike wasn’t what they were after, they wanted to give me a kicking.

“I didn’t notice that they’d taken the bike, as I had blood splattered in my face.

“The bike was found a few roads away, where it was chucked in the scrap yard, but it’s been taken away for forensics. While they were stamping on me, they kept on trying to take my helmet off but I just kept my head covered.

"At the time, while the beatings were happening, I felt in pain – but then the adrenaline rushed to my body and all I wanted to do was defend myself.

“I was on the floor for a good few minutes after it happened.”

Mr Weston, who was left with discomfort in his lips and teeth and needs painkillers for a headache, said he is in constant fear of what will happen next. He now wears sunglasses on the job so people cannot recognise him.

"My family don’t like me doing this job, and we do actually get a lot of grief – it’s a dangerous and stressful job as all traffic wardens are targets.

"In any real scenario, once you’re on the floor it’s near impossible to get back up, and I didn’t think I was going to. I’m quite a big build and I can usually defend myself, but there was too many against one and the first kick was to the throat.

"I just feel lucky to be alive."

A video posted on social media following the day-time assault showed the warden being being repeatedly kicked in the head and body by several men.

Bashir, of Hartopp Road, Alum Rock, was warned he is likely to receive a jail sentence.

He was granted conditional bail to reappear for sentence at Birmingham Crown Court on November 23.

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