Traffic wardens may be the bane of many drivers’ lives, but one woman has taken her hatred of the ticket-issuers one step too far.
Paula Horton, of Coronation Road North in Hull, has been sent to anger management classes after she ran over one traffic warden’s foot and tried to drive into another. Admitting two charges of assault, one of dangerous driving and another of driving with no car insurance, the 36-year-old was also fined £250.
The businesswoman, who blamed the incident on stress caused by the collapse of her graphic design company, was arrested andspent eight hours in cells after a third traffic warden managed to pull her keys from the ignition and call the police.
Returning to the scene the next day to collect her vehicle, despite the fact that she still had no car insurance, Ms Horton reportedly shouted at another trafficwarden, “You better step back, I have a habit of running traffic wardens over.” Police were once again called and warned her about her conduct.
Judge Trevor Barber, sentencing, described the 36-year-old’s behaviour as “arrogant,” ordered her to attend the probation service’s Think First anger management scheme for six months and told her to purchase car insurance. He warned that failure to complete either of these instructions would result in a prison sentence.
Craig Handy, spokesperson for CoverGirl Car Insurance Services, commented on Horton’s failure to posses car insurance. “There’s no excuse to be driving around without motor insurance, especially nowadays when there’s so many fantastically cheap women’s car insurance deals to befound.”
Paula Horton, who had no previous convictions before her road rage incident, said after sentencing that she had been under immense strain and regretted what happened, adding, “It was just one of those awful days.”
And for Ms Horton, it’s going to get a whole lot worse; she faces the possibility of an expensive compensation claim by one of her disgruntled traffic warden victims.