The Supreme Court has ruled that Morrisons supermarket is liable for the actions of one of its petrol station workers who attacked a customer.

According to court documents, Amjid Khan was working at the Morrisons petrol station at Small Heath, Birmingham, in 2008 when he punched and kicked Ahmed Mohamud.

Court documents say Mohamud asked staff to print some documents he had stored on a USB memory stick, and Khan responded by being abusive and using a racial slur.

Mohamud was not abusive in return, but the documents say Khan followed him to his car, shouted more abuse, punched him twice in the head then leapt on him and subjected him to a “brutal attack involving punches and kicks while Mr Mohamud was curled up on the petrol station forecourt”.

The court ruled that Morrisons was “vicariously liable” for Khan’s actions.

Morrisons said Khan had been sacked and that it had agreed to pay damages.