A Chippenham carer has been slapped with a restraining order after a parking row turned nasty.
Swindon Magistrates’ Court this morning (13 April) heard how Mandy Tamin, 54, issued expletives to a woman who complained about her parking on 8 December last year.
The defendant, of Hill Rise, narrowly escaped a criminal record after prosecutor Tom Power agreed to drop the Section 4A Public Order Act offence in return for a restraining order on acquittal.
Richard Williams, defending, said that his client accepts there had been “tension” between her and the complainant Julie Bye in the lead up to this incident following a row over parking.
Tamin parked in front of the complainant’s house on more than one occasion, including when she was working as a carer. Ms Bye complained about her vehicle’s positioning.
On the occasion which led to this charge, the defendant was visiting a friend in the street while off duty. Once again, angry over her parking Ms Bye contacted her employer.
As Tamin walked to her car – after receiving a phone call about the woman’s complaint from her employer – she shouted “expletives” and flashed her middle finger at Ms Bye.
“She did say some words that she regretted, which were heard by Ms Bye, who was in her front garden at the time”, Mr Willams said.
Adding: “The charge would have been denied as there was no intent to cause the complainant alarm by those words, but she accepts she used expletives and stuck her finger up to Ms Bye.”
He told the court a consensus was reached with Mr Power and that a conviction for this offence could have a “potentially catastrophic impact on her” due to the “nature of her career”.
Magistrates agreed to impose a 12-month restraining order, prohibiting Tamin from contacting Ms Bye directly or indirectly for the purpose of protecting her from “unpleasant contact including swearing”.
