A man punched and racially abused a Muslim man in a road rage bust-up on Christmas Eve, a court was told.

Trevor Hughes-Jenkins, 48, of Walsingham Road, Hove, is accused of attacking Merhdad Mayahi after he stopped his car in front him on Portland Road last year.

Hove Crown Court heard yesterday Hughes-Jenkins leapt from his Land Rover Discovery seconds after his victim had pulled over on double-yellow lines.

He allegedly walked up to Mr Mayahi, who had stopped to buy groceries, and tried to punch him before the Asian man fled into a grocery store.

Hughes-Jenkins is then accused of shouting racist abuse at Mr Mayahi and banging on the windows as he hid inside the shop.

Hughes-Jenkins denies racially aggravated assault, common assault and a racially aggravated charge of causing harassment alarm or distress against Mr Mayahi.

Mr Mayahi told a jury the defendant pulled alongside his Mazda as he was stopping. He said he then beeped his horn at the alleged victim as he parked.

Mr Mayahi said: "As I was locking the car I noticed he had got out of his car and was looking at me and rolling up his sleeves, asking, 'Do you want some of this then?'

"He punched me on the right cheek.

"He tried to punch me four or five times and I was trying to duck.

"I managed to get away in the end and I ran across the road into the shop and closed the door and put it on the latch."

The court heard Hughes-Jenkins allegedly launched racial insults at Mayahi as he banged on the shop window and told him to come outside so he could "kill him".

Defending Hughes-Jenkins, Henry Spooner said his client had merely stopped to pick up his children from nursery and that Mr Mayahi had sworn first and launched racist abuse at the defendant.

He accused the alleged victim of "exaggerating" his story.

The trial continues.