THE manager of a Bridgwater curry house has admitted harassing rival restaurants with hundreds of phone calls over an eight-month period.

Sedgemoor Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday how Karim Miah, 31, manager of Spice Club, in Eastover, made 310 calls to the Spice Gallery in North Petherton and 217 calls to Elachi, in Eastover, between February and November 2009.

The court heard how the calls, made on a daily basis, left the two restaurants unable to operate normally.

Ian Denley, defending, said Miah, of Stockmoor Drive, Bridgwater, would call Elachi and the Spice Gallery and then stay silent on the phone to see if they were busy.

Mr Denley said Miah believed the restaurants were taking his ideas and under-cutting him.

He said: “Mr Miah felt if he put on a special offer for a set of meals, they would undercut his business.

“He felt frustrated about this.”

Mr Denley said Miah was a hard-working father-of-two who accepted what he had done was wrong.

Miah, who pleaded guilty to harassment, was given a 12-month community order, with 80 hours unpaid work, and a 12-month order banning him from having contact with Elachi or the Spice Gallery.

The chair of magistrates, Elizabeth Levey, told him: “We are taking it on the trust of your solicitor that you do understand these are serious offences.

“One can feel quite threatened and if it had happened to you, you would not have been able to get on with your business.”