A MAN who pulled out a machete before a fight with friends which ended with handshakes and hugs has been jailed for nine months.

Ozman Ali, aged 29, threw away the weapon before the fight broke out one Sunday morning in July in the car park next to the Beaumont Arms in Ladybridge.

The man who lives minutes away in Stonehaven arrived at the pub car park in Armadale Road as a passenger accompanied by another man at 9.30am on July 8.

A witness heard "screeching tyres" coming from the car park and took photos of the fight while he stayed indoors.

Ali was in a Volkswagen Golf parked side by side with a black BMW when another man got out and started shouting towards the other car, Bolton Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting, said that Ali got out of the car holding a machete in his hand and seemed to be approaching one man who shouted, “get rid of that”.

The court heard that Ali was seen to throw the machete away and then shouted “let’s go” before the four men started throwing punches at one another.

Mr Wilcock said: “The fight lasted a really short period of time.”

The prosecutor also said that once the men appeared to calm down, they started hugging and shaking each other’s hands.

Ali was arrested when police arrived at the scene following a call from the witness, although no further action was taken against the other three men.

Ali has five previous convictions for seven offences including two for possession of a blade in a public place in February 2015 and January 2017 respectively.

Jonathan Savage, defending, said that Ali was frustrated because things had been “blown out of proportion”.

He stressed that no one else was around when the incident happened and therefore no one was likely to get injured by the weapon.

He also said that the blade was not used as a weapon during the fight and was immediately discarded at the request of Ali’s friend.

Mr Savage described Ali, who usually works for 50 hours per week, as industrious and from a stable home with a good family.

He added that Ali is in a long-standing relationship with his partner with intentions to marry.

The judge, Recorder Lazarus, said that if he was in the landlord's position that morning, he would have been “petrified”.

He said: “It seems to me, superficially, that it appears there was a risk of disorder and there was a risk of causing alarm and distress. However, it seems to me that this issue arose from the fight which started after you disposed of the machete.”

Ali initially denied being in possession of a machete when he first appeared in magistrates’ court but was rewarded for pleading guilty.

He was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, half of which he will spend in custody.