A multimillionaire peer who built the DFS furniture chain attacked a motorist by scratching at his face and pushing his thumbs into his eyes, a jury was told yesterday.

Lord Kirkham, the founder and executive chairman of the company, is accused of carrying out the attack in the village of Sprotbrough, South Yorkshire, where he lives.

The jury at Doncaster Crown Court was told that Lord Kirkham, a Conservative Party benefactor, then punched Keith Pearce, 50, a number of times. Andrew Dallas, for the prosecution, told the court that the incident was of a kind commonly known as road rage. He said: “This was a completely senseless piece of violence brought about by some minor road incident which had not caused damage to anybody.”

Lord Kirkham, 64, denies assault causing actual bodily harm.

Mr Dallas said that the peer had told police that it was Mr Pearce who had attacked him and that he had only acted in self-defence.

Mr Pearce told the court that the incident happened as he was driving to work on April 29. Lord Kirkham’s Mercedes was approaching a junction and indicating to turn into the road that he was pulling out of. But the Mercedes pulled up in front of him, forcing him to stop.

Mr Pearce said: “I saw the gentleman getting out of the car and running around the back of the vehicle. He was swearing. It was F-words and B-words. ‘What the effing hell do you think you’re doing’, and then he approached me. His hands were in a claw. He attacked me and went for my face.”

Mr Pearce, a council engineer, claimed that he had momentarily lost vision and had been punched two or three times. “I pushed him away but he attacked me again,” he said. “Both hands grabbed my face again. He continued to punch me.”

Mr Pearce said that he grabbed Lord Kirkham, a life peer, in self-defence and that they fell to the ground. Lord Kirkham eventually got back in his car and drove off.

Mr Pearce denied accusations from Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, representing Lord Kirkham, that it was he who had started the incident after shouting insults such as “fat git” or “flash git” at his alleged attacker.

Hazel Hansford, a villager, told the court that she had seen Lord Kirkham lunge at Mr Pearce. She said: “Mr Kirkham went berserk. He just went mad, attacking the man.”

Jane Harris, another witness who was driving behind Lord Kirkham and had stopped to ask the two men to stop fighting, described the peer as the aggressor. She said: “He just went for him. He went for him round the head area with his hands.”

Mr Pearce’s alleged injuries included bruised eyes and scratches to his face, shoulder and leg. He said that he later developed back problems, panic attacks and headaches and had to cancel a planned motorcycling holiday.

The trial continues today.

Times Recommends

• Time-worn Freddie gives up Test matches
• Brighton company 'involved in cyber attack'
• The art of survival: it’s all in the mind