A driver whose car killed an elderly woman when it reversed over her at a shopping centre has claimed she has no memory of what happened.

Grandmother Dawn Chedd, 50, said she could only recall going to Bluewater near Dartford about a job with a friend’s two-year-old daughter in the back of her automatic people carrier.

“I drove to the second level of the car park,” the former child minder told Maidstone Crown Court. “It was full, so I carried on to the second exit, opposite the entrance to Costa Coffee.

“I turned and looked for a space. The next thing I knew I was on the floor. I woke up to a concrete ceiling. I actually thought I was dead. I didn’t know where I was.”

She described it as being “like an out of body experience”.

Claire Bishop, 71, died after the Vauxhall Zafira went out of control and ran her down on the afternoon of January 4 last year.

Chedd, of Cranleigh Drive, Swanley, denies causing death by careless driving.

The victim had been shopping with her husband Roy and they were returning to their car when the tragedy happened.

The jury was told Mr Bishop, of Bexleyheath, had seen Chedd reaching into the open driver’s door. Soon afterwards he heard screeching tyres and three bangs as the car hit other vehicles.

His wife was left fatally injured underneath. The Zafira had travelled in an arc out of the parking bay. The child was not hurt.

Chedd, who is married to a retired police officer, was found lying injured between two cars that had been hit.

Giving evidence, she said she had been a child minder for 24 years but was forced to retire in September 2011 because of ill-health.

She described herself as a “very experienced” driver, adding: “I am careful, considerate and always obey speed limits.”

Chedd said she had been offered a job at a store at Bluewater and went there to see the manager. She was looking after the child for a friend who had a dental appointment.

“I am not a careless driver. All I can say is I don’t know what happened. I believe I was unconscious and I am very sorry somebody has lost their life” - defendant Dawn Chedd

“I went to look for a space,” she said. “The next thing I was on the floor. My vision was blurred and I had pain in my neck. I actually didn’t think I was alive.

“I seemed to have lost time and passed out. I don’t remember parking the car. I don’t recall getting out of the car and going to the rear of it. I have no recollection of reversing out of the space.”

Chedd said because of the size of her car, when she was in a space she would open the door and look round to see if she needed to go further back.

“I didn’t ever reverse with the door open,” she continued. “I am physically unable to do that. I have got a bad back and legs.”

Asked by Matthew Radstone, defending, if she could explain how she ended up on the ground, she replied: “No, I drove in and seemed to have lost time. I have got no explanation at all.

“There was nothing going on in the car which caused me to be under pressure. The child was not screaming. She is a very content, happy child.”

Chedd was put on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

“When I was in the ambulance I still couldn’t see properly. My neck was really hurting. I went unconscious again in the ambulance.

“At hospital the doctor was dismissive and not very helpful. I found out later I was discharged with a fractured neck. I didn’t find out I had a broken neck until January this year.”

Asked how she felt about what happened, she said: “I am a bit upset about it. I am very sad that somebody lost their life. I just don’t know what happened.”

Questioned by prosecutor Catherine Donnelly, Chedd denied she had been careless by putting her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake.

“No, I didn’t do that,” she said. “I am not a careless driver. All I can say is I don’t know what happened. I believe I was unconscious and I am very sorry somebody has lost their life.”

Miss Donnelly asked: “Isn’t it true you were reversing, trying to put it into the bay, and it just went very wrong?”

Chadd replied: “No, I have told the truth from the beginning. I would not and did not drive carelessly ever.”

The trial continues.