A SCHOOL bus driver was assaulted and sprayed with CS gas when he was involved in a road-rage row with a jet-setting businessman.

Computer systems trouble-shooter David McDonnell launched the attack after Colin Hunt remonstrated about the way he was driving through a village.

Mr Hunt, 62, was walking home after completing his school run when he gestured to McDonnell, because he believed he was speeding.

A court heard yesterday that McDonnell, 42, drove alongside Mr Hunt and the wing mirror of his car hit the bus driver's hand.

Khadim Al-Hassan, prosecuting, said McDonnell blamed Mr Hunt for the collision and demanded his name and address.

When Mr Hunt refused, an argument started, and McDonnell squirted him in the face with CS spray.

Witnesses to the fracas, in Stokesley, on November 6, said McDonnell punched Mr Hunt four times and may also have kicked or kneed him.

Police traced McDonnell a month later and found the CS gas cannister in the study of his home, at Home Farm, Chopgate.

McDonnell told officers he bought two sprays while travelling around the world on business, because he had suffered five burglaries.

Thomas Storey, mitigating, said: "Having lived in Japan and continental Europe, the sprays are much more prevalent and much more widely available. He was not aware that they were illegal to possess in this country, and he has never used them save for this one incident."

He described McDonnell as "a fairly high-powered IT consultant".

McDonnell admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon.

He was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay Mr Hunt £1,000 compensation and court costs of £204.