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A white van man forced a taxi driver off the road after being branded a “big wet lettuce” by his victim.

Burly Simon Tyler chased down Carl Serridge in a “ wanton act of gratuitous aggression” - after a row over Mr Serridge struggling with the machine at the Wallasey Tunnel toll booth.

Tyler, 43, who had been working in the Liverpool area, was jailed for 12 months at Liverpool Crown Court today after being convicted of dangerous driving by a jury.

Simon Leong, prosecuting, said Mr Serridge was driving through the tunnel from Liverpool to Wallasey Village on April 12 last year.

He told the jury: “He got to the toll booth and had some trouble with the automatic coin machine. His coins were rejected and it took him a bit longer than usual to get through.

“The defendant in a white van is directly behind him and beeps his horn telling him to hurry up. Mr Serridge tried to explain the difficulty but instead of being patient and understanding, the defendant responded by saying ‘f****** hurry up you f****** d*******, I want to get through’.

“The victim responded ‘calm down you big wet lettuce’ and finally managed to get the barrier to lift.”

The court heard Tyler, of Naomi Close in Chester, was intending to travel home via the M53 but instead “sharply” crossed lanes of traffic get alongside Mr Serridge’s Ford Mondeo taxi on the Gorsey slip-road.

Mr Leong said: “He was shouting at Mr Serridge before using his van to forcibly push him off the road into the hard shoulder.

“The taxi driver hit the rear of the van before ending up across the slip road. After which the defendant got out and began shouting at him.”

The court heard Mr Serridge suffered minor neck and shoulder injuries in the collision.

Tyler was interviewed by police and claimed that Mr Serridge had been the aggressor, and that he followed the victim to “smooth things over”.

In his trial, he claimed that the collision was a “complete accident” and that he had wanted to talk in a “gentlemanly way.”

Mark Le Brocq, defending, told the court his client had lost his father and grandmother since the incident and feared he would lose his family home if he was jailed.

But the judge, Recorder Anne Brown, slammed Tyler for a “lack of remorse” and for the “cowardly act” of claiming Mr Serridge was in fact the aggressor.

She said: “You took great exception to getting delayed by a matter of seconds and you beeped him and told him to f****** hurry up.

“He said ‘calm down you wet lettuce’ and may have sworn back. You decided to pursue Mr Serridge, cutting across lanes to get to him. You drove straight towards him showing scant regard for other road users....

“This was quite frankly a wanton act of gratuitous aggression.”

Recorder Brown banned Tyler from the roads for 30 months, with the disqualification period to begin on his release from prison.