A sports event MC who announced major UFC and boxing fights has been convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old boy and fined £2,500 over a dispute about a Lime Bike blocking a pavement outside his £1.6m west London home.

Ironically, pictures published by the Mail Online show Andrew Friedlander travelling to Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on a Lime Bike — the court hearing how he grabbed the schoolboy by the neck and told the victim “I’m going to smash your face through this fence and drag you to my door”, the incident escalating as the 51-year-old confronted a group of schoolchildren about one of the hire bikes which had been knocked over and was blocking the pavement outside his East Sheen home.

Friedlander claimed he “felt a civic responsibility” due to the number of Lime Bikes parked on Hertford Avenue and went outside after hearing “a loud crunching sound”. He told the court his intention “was to unblock the pavement” and that he had feared for his safety as the confrontation with the schoolchildren developed, however district judge Sushil Kumar said Friedlander’s actions were “not the behaviour of someone in fear” and he was actually “irked by perceived disrespect”.

“This local resident resorted to vulgarity and made a threat to smash or slam and then grabbed the boy around the throat,” the judge said. “His actions were not in self-defence and parts of his evidence were deliberately untruthful.”

The former UFC announcer — whose social media profile states he is now retired but also worked on events at Wembley and world title boxing bouts — was convicted of the assault, fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £650 costs, £250 compensation to the victim and a £1,000 victim surcharge.

The west London road where Friedlander lives has apparently become a popular spot for Lime’s dockless e-bikes to be parked, Google Maps images showing a number of the bikes left on the street.

Regarding the incident of 25 November last year, the former MC insisted there was “no intention to hurt or injure”, although the court noted his account was significantly different to that of the victim and another 14-year-old who witnessed what happened.

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The victim told the court: “A person approached me from behind and said: ”Who knocked over the Lime Bike? If you don’t pick it up I’m going to smash your face through this fence and drag you to my door’.

“I was nervous and shocked and he counted down from three and when he reached one he grabbed my neck and dragged me to the Lime Bike and made me pick it up. It was seven steps to the Lime Bike. He was ahead of me and pulling me and I was a bit sore afterwards, there were marks and a scratch on my neck. I picked it up, worried I would be assaulted again.”

At home, the 14-year-old’s mother took a photo of the scratch. During cross-examination by Friedlander’s lawyer Erin McKee, the schoolboy accepted the Lime Bike had fallen when his blazer caught its handlebar.

“It’s not like I pulled the bike, it just fell. I didn’t see it as a problem, I’ve often seen Lime Bikes on the ground,” he added.

A second schoolboy told the court: “As we walked past the Lime Bike it fell over and a man started asking questions about who knocked over the bike. ‘If you don’t pick up the bike I’m going to slam your heads through my front door,” and started counting down from three. He grabbed my friend by his neck and dragged him over to the bike.”

Friedlander claimed he “wanted to place some responsibility on people walking past my house” and “felt a civic responsibility”.

“They are children, but they are also teenagers and there was a lot of them. They were behind me, in front of me and to my left,” he said. “In the moment I felt surrounded. I was by myself in an unexpected situation, not primed for battle in my slippers and a group of young men not backing down, not budging. I was outnumbered.

> OPINION: Stop whining about Lime bikes: they’re currently the jewel in Britain’s diminutive active travel crown

“I grabbed the material on his shirt and blazer. I can’t be sure there wasn’t skin when I put my finger and thumb together. It was force to move away from a potentially volatile situation. It is possible in that moment a finger caught his neck, but it wasn’t intentional. I am not unaware young people in London carry knives and at that age there is a pack mentality and if one of them said: ‘Let’s go’, they would have all followed. The physical threat was something I was more than conscious of.”

However, during sentencing judge Kumar questioned Friedlander’s claims, saying: “Mr Friedlander said in his evidence he needed to ‘escalate or assert’ and that ‘a bit of authority was needed’. I couldn’t understand this approach. This did not support his assertion that he was in fear of the children and taking one boy by the collar was more likely to escalate the situation.

“This was not the behaviour of someone in fear. He was not acting in fear or self-defence. If he was in fear of violence his action of turning his back on the boys and heading home is puzzling. He was irked by perceived disrespect in an area he cared about and this local resident resorted to vulgarity and made a threat to smash or slam and then grabbed the boy around the throat.

“His actions were not in self-defence and parts of his evidence were deliberately untruthful.

“This conviction follows compelling evidence. It was not for you to act as the local vigilante to hold them to account. As soon as you lay hands on somebody potentially vulnerable there is risk of additional harm and those injuries, that small nick was caused by the incident. The greater punishment will be the loss of your good character. You will not wear that lightly in your business and your travel and that is a significant punishment. This offence was an aberration and there has been no repeat of this concerning behaviour since.”

Friedlander’s lawyer Miss McKee had highlighted positive references and called her client a “usually calm and placid” individual. She added: “It is the first time he has come into contact with the criminal justice system and this conviction will be a heavy burden on him as he frequently travels to the USA.”