A driver whose car wing mirror clipped the hip of a property developer controversially planning to build homes in a village was nothing to do with the ongoing dispute, Truro magistrates heard.

Katy Dolan, aged 23, of St Petry, Goldsithney, accepted that she was |probably driving too fast for the area, and was intending to drive round Elaine Newman but had misjudged the |distance, solicitor Dawn Hallett said.

Dolan pleaded guilty to careless driving at Goldsithney on April 28, and a second charge of assaulting Ms Newman was dropped by the prosecution.

Jill Wilson, for the CPS, said Ms Newman was working on a plot of land at St Petry, a building site for four |houses, and there was some concern between local residents about the development in a local green area.

A concrete mixer had been blocking the main road leading through St Petry, and as it was moved away the defendant was seen stopping her car directly |outside a house. The car blocked the road, and Dolan accelerated away at speed.

Ms Newman walked into the road to clean up after the mixer had been there, when she heard the sound of screeching tyres and the smell of rubber and turned to see Dolan’s vehicle only inches from her. As she walked round, the driver accelerated, striking her on her hip with the wing mirror.

Ms Newman felt as if she had been punched and her hip was sore to the touch afterwards. She thought it had been a deliberate action.

Ms Hallett said her client had nothing to do with the ongoing dispute in the area, nor had her family.

That day she found access to her drive blocked by the mixer so she could not get on her driveway. She telephoned for her father to pass a bag out to her. She went to turn the car around, accepting that she was probably driving too fast for the area, but not excessively fast. The exhaust on her car had a twin baffle so would have sounded faster than it was.

She saw Ms Newman and stopped behind her. She was intending to go round her and thought she had enough space to clear her, but accepted she |misjudged the situation and clipped her with the wing mirror. She was adamant it was not a deliberate act.

Dolan, a trainee manager, who was said to deeply regret the incident, was fined £165 and £105 costs and surcharge.