An elderly woman fled after crashing into a Range Rover in a Malmesbury car park.
At Swindon Magistrates’ Court, Suzanna Tytherleigh pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and driving without a licence.
Keith Ballinger, prosecuting, said the 78-year-old was manoeuvring her Ford Focus out of a parking space in Cross Hayes car park when she hit an unattended Range Rover.
A member of the public offered assistance at the incident on 26 June 2021, but she disregarded them and drove away. They took a photograph of her car and reported it to the police.
An investigation was carried out and the defendant was interviewed by an officer. She admitted knowing that she caused the damage and accepted that she did not stop.
Gordon Hotson, defending, said his client is now showing early signs of dementia and work was carried out to establish whether or not she was fit to plea or stand trial for her crimes.
He said that Tytherleigh was trying to extricate her car from a parking space when she made contact with the other vehicle. She didn’t feel it was her fault because the other vehicle was “badly parked”.
She accepts not remaining there to provide her details but was concerned that she may have overstayed her parking ticket, so left, Mr Hotson added.
He told the court that her husband – who always dealt with all car-related matters for her – passed away in 2015. As a result, her driving licence was not renewed and had expired.
Mr Hotson said that Tytherleigh’s car was seized by the police when she attended the station for an interview and the DVLA has not yet decided whether they’ll allow her to drive again.
Describing the incident as a “parking nudge”, he said this was his client’s first conviction.
Magistrates imposed six points on her driving licence and imposed a six-month conditional discharge, meaning she won’t be punished for her crimes unless she commits another offence within that set period. She must pay costs of £85 and a £22 surcharge.
