A PORT Glasgow man spat at police officers and lashed out at a paramedic who was trying to treat him when he was found unresponsive at a railway station, a court has heard.

But Christopher Duffy has been spared any jail time for his actions, which had forced the emergency workers assisting him to press a panic button.

Members of the public had alerted the emergency services to the intoxicated 26-year-old who appeared unconscious at Port Glasgow station.

The ambulance personnel were called at around 6.40pm on October 24 last year because a man was in a state of what appeared to be unconsciousness.

The procurator fiscal said: "They approached the accused who was lying on the ground.

"A member of the public told them to watch because he had been spitting. The accused was incapacitated.

"The ambulance technician was applying a sternal rub, he becomes responsive and the ambulance paramedic sits him up.

"He makes a swinging action for the paramedic but did not connect.

"The ambulance personnel pressed the emergency button."

When the police arrived at the scene Duffy continued his torrent of abuse, shouting swearing, and spitting.

The accused was then taken to the ambulance to be assessed, where the police officer was spat at. Duffy was warned about spitting and a spit mask applied.

He then started to abuse the police officers, threatening them repeatedly for nearly ten minutes on route to the Inverclyde Royal and he had to be restrained.

His defence lawyer Amy Spence told the court that had Duffy, who works full time as a chef in a caravan park,  not been intoxicated this would never have happened.

She added that he has  and had taken steps to get treatment for alcohol and he has not been in trouble for six years.

Ms Spence said: "He understands that courts will take an extremely dim view of this kind of behaviour. He is apologetic and remorseful for his actions."

At a previous court appearance in August Duffy admitted to two charges of attempting to strike the paramedic, shouting and swearing.

He also pleaded guilty to abusing police officers, spitting at them and uttering threats of violence.

A plea of not guilty to attempting to hit an ambulance technician on the head was accepted by the court.

Duffy, of the town's Highholm Street, was sentenced to a 12 month community payback order as an alternative to prison as well as a 12 month alcohol treatment order.

Sheriff Sean Lynch told Christopher Duffy that if they were not completed then he would face a custodial sentence.