A springer spaniel which bit a man has been spared a death sentence by magistrates.

Stephen Adamson needed four stitches in his cheek after the attack on September 19 in Collingbourne Kingston.

The dog's owner, Raymond Ferguson, 51, of High Street, Collingbourne Ducis, appeared before Kennet Magistrates in Devizes on Thursday and pleaded guilty to a charge that the dog was dangerously out of control and caused injury.

Magistrates, who could have ordered the dog to be destroyed told Ferguson, 51, to keep it under proper control and gave him a 12-month conditional discharge .

They also ordered him to pay £250 compensation and £55 prosecution costs.

The court heard Mr Adamson was bitten on the afternoon of September 19, the day when panic buying at petrol stations broke out following false rumours of more blockades at oil refineries, a week after the original fuel crisis.

Mr Adamson, who was working at the Hill View Garage on the A338 in Collingbourne Kingston when the incident happened, was trying to help a regular customer whose car was unable to get to the pumps because it was blocked by Ferguson's van.

Jane Warren, prosecuting, said: "Mr Adamson went across to the Ford transit van to ask if the driver (Ferguson) could move his vehicle. The driver was in the driver's seat and a black and white springer spaniel was in the passenger seat.

"As he approached the passenger window, suddenly without warning the spaniel lunged out of the window and bit the right side of his face."

The wound started to bleed and Mr Adamson was given emergency first aid at the garage but was later taken to hospital where four stitches were put into the lower part of the wound and he was given a tetanus jab.

Ferguson, a self-employed builder, told the police that Mr Adamson put his face up to the window and as a result the dog, called Dino, snapped at him.

He said Dino was territorial when he was in the van.

Mark Ashley, defending, said Dino, who was now four and half years old, had been with Ferguson since he was seven weeks old, and accompanied him to work in his van.

Mr Ashley said: "There is no history of vicious attacks. He has never bitten anyone before or, more importantly, since. Mr Ferguson is extremely vigilant and he no longer leaves the window down.

"There is no suggestion at all that this dog is a danger to the public and with the window up he is no danger at all.

"Mr Ferguson is a responsible dog owner and is taking precautions so it doesn't happen again. ."

Ferguson requested permission to speak and told the magistrates: "I have apologised to the guy on more than one occasion. There is no one more sorry than me. He is a little bit territorial when he is in the van. He barks at people when they walk by it, but he wouldn't bite again. I wouldn't give him the opportunity to do that."

Speaking after the case, held last Thursday, Ferguson said he was relieved he could keep Dino and again offered his apologies to Mr Adamson.