A Holbeach roof contractor racially abused one of his customers in a disagreement over when he was to be paid, a court has heard.
Patrick Alec Smith, 45, of Rose View Drive, Holbeach admitted racially aggravated harassment when he appeared before magistrates in Boston.
Prosecuting, Jim Clare said Smith telephoned his customer at 10am on September 2 last year to discuss payment for the work he was doing on the roof of his property in Skegness.
He said the complainant said he would pay for the work when it was completed but he heard Smith threaten to take all his materials back and then say ‘******* black *******’.
He said the complainant was of Nigerian birth but had lived in the UK for 16 years and was a British citizen.
Mr Clare said that the following day he received another telephone call from Smith in which he said: “You do not understand, you are not of this country, we do things differently around here.”
In mitigation it was said that Smith apologised to the court and had already apologised to the complainant.
It was said that this had been an isolated incident and that Smith had become frustrated by what had been a commercial argument.
Smith was fined £266 and ordered to pay £119 in court costs and charges and £100 compensation to the complainant.
