BUSINESSMAN Gary Hatto is to appear before magistrates in Swindon charged with assaulting fellow barber Mike Harford on the doorstep of his Devizes home.

Hatto, 48, was charged on November 19 with assaulting Mr Harford by beating on June 22. He will appear before magistrates in Swindon on December 10.

Mr Harford, 36, who runs Mikey’s Barbershop in Market Place, Devizes, originally worked for Hatto in his Devizes shop but left to set up his own business.

It is understood father-of-three Mr Harford complained to the police that he was at home with his three young children in Brickley Lane when a man came to the front door following a row about a comb.

Mr Harford’s wife Aimee was away from the house at the time.

Hatto has won a number of awards in recent years. In 2003 he was named employer of the year at the People in Wiltshire Awards.

Judges were told that his staff got free trips to New York, free holidays and were even allowed to take their boss’s sports car for a spin.

Hatto was nominated by his own staff who said they respected him as much for the respect he shows them as his business acumen.

He told the audience at the time: “I have a top team and I am flattered and honoured to have been nominated for this award.”

Hatto, who started his barber shop business at the age of 21, won a Chippenham Civic Society Conservation and Environment Award last year for his shopfront in the High Street.

He opened his first branch, in The Causeway, Chippenham, 25 years ago and now has nine shops in Wiltshire and neighbouring counties.