A MOTORIST who drove over a man in a Bolton restaurant car park has been cleared of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

It took a jury just one hour and 25 minutes to unanimously find 21-year-old Elliott Barnes not guilty of the offence.

The trial at Bolton Crown Court heard how 34-year-old Shail Mohmed was left with multiple fractures, including a fractured neck and spine, following an altercation at the McDonald's restaurant car park in Derby Street, Bolton, on July 4 2014.

Barnes, of Chester Road, Manchester, had been heading to a house party in Bolton with his friends when they decided to stop off at the restaurant to use the toilet and buy some food shortly before midnight.

The jury heard how a group of Asian youths inside the restaurant were said to have made offensive remarks towards Barnes' friends.

And moments after Barnes and his two female passengers returned to his Volkswagen Polo two older Asian men got out of a Mercedes parked nearby.

The Mercedes driver, Noor-Mohammed Bagas, maintained in court that racist remarks had been made by occupants of Barnes' car which angered him and he and he had got out of his vehicle to speak to them.

Witness accounts differed as to what happened next, with some saying there were raised voices and Mr Bagas put his hands on the Polo but did not attempt to get inside it.

But other witnesses, including Barnes, alleged that his car door was opened, his arm grabbed and there were attempts to pull him out of the car.

Barnes, giving evidence before the court, said that he was frightened and his car had been surrounded by people.

He later told police that he thought Mr Mohmed, who was standing in front of his car, would get out of the way as he drove forward.

But Mr Mohmed, who had been a passenger in the Mercedes, was hit by the Polo and run over.

Barnes did not stop and was later arrested at his home by police following an appeal in The Bolton News.

Following a week-long trial, the jury accepted Barnes' defence that he had driven in the manner he did because he felt he and his passengers were in jeopardy.

Barnes previously pleaded guilty to failing to report an accident and will return to court on Thursday to be sentenced.

Judge Timothy Stead told him he needed time to reflect on the sentence he should pass.

"I am very conscious of the fact that a man was very seriously injured," he said.

"This is, by no means, an easy case of its kind. However, I do not have in mind a sentence of immediate imprisonment."