A MOTORIST drove his car at a traffic warden as he tried to give him a ticket, a court was told.

John Law suffered a leg injury and was off work for some time after the incident in the town centre at Tenterden, near Ashford.

Darren King was convicted of assault by beating after a trial. He was cleared of a more serious charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.

He was fined £250 and ordered to pay £500 costs. He was given 10 months to pay.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how King was sitting in his car parked on a single yellow line in Tenterden's Church Street on May 23 last year.

Mr Law walked up to the 30-year-old builder and said: “Hello sir, are you about to move?”

Piers Wauchope, prosecuting, said the warden gave King the opportunity to move on. King replied that his fiancee was in a bank and would only be three or four minutes.

But Mr Law told him he could not wait there and that it was only for unloading and loading.

King replied: “If that’s the case, I will go round the back and get my child’s buggy out.”

Mr Law moved to the front of the car but King threatened: “If you go near my vehicle I will run you over.” He started the engine and drove forward.

Mr Wauchope said King, of St Benet’s Way, Tenterden, had room to drive away but deliberately aimed at Mr Law, striking his leg.

He stopped nearby and then drove off. His car registration was taken and he was later arrested.

King, who denied the charges, claimed he did not drive at the warden, hit him with the car or threaten him.

Judge Jeremy Carey said he interpreted the jury’s verdicts to mean that King had lost his temper and acted in a way that was out of character.

He did not deliberately drive at the warden but was reckless in a way that might cause injury.

“Happily, on the jury’s verdict, no serious consequences followed,” he said. “It was an irresponsible and criminal act, for which you must be punished.

“I am satisfied it falls at the bottom end of the scale of criminality and I shall reflect that in the sentence as a fine.”