A row with a window cleaner has ended up with a 54-year-old man being fined £500.

William Graham threatened to burn the man’s van during the incident.

The hosepipe hullabaloo took place on December 16, when the window cleaner said he was working at the bottom of Broadway in Douglas.

He said a female drove over his hosepipe, breaking a connector.

He claimed that they'd spoken, and she told him to ‘p*** off’, before driving away.

A short time later, Graham arrived in a van.

He told the window cleaner: ‘Verbally abuse me then.

‘I’ll burn those vans down. You won’t threaten my wife.’

Graham was later arrested, and when interviewed, claimed his wife had been threatened by the window cleaner.

In court, he initially denied two counts of provoking behaviour.

A pre-trial review was due to be held in June, but Graham changed his plea to one of the charges to guilty, while the prosecution offered no evidence to the second charge.

Defence advocate Ian Kermode said: ‘In a nutshell, Mr Graham’s partner was driving in the Castlemona Avenue area and ran over a hosepipe connector.

‘It broke and words were exchanged.’

Mr Kermode said that some window cleaners put their hoses across roads, and his client’s wife had been shouted at by the window cleaner, who had asked her to pay £20.

The advocate said she had driven home upset, so Graham had gone to the scene.

‘He accepts he perhaps overreacted and was over-protective of his partner,’ said Mr Kermode.

‘I am tempted to characterise this incident as much ado about nothing, but perhaps more appropriate would be a storm in a hosepipe.’

Graham, who lives at Clarence Terrace in Douglas, was also ordered to pay £300 prosecution costs, and will pay £60 per month.