A driver who badly injured a couple while reversing at speed in a supermarket car park has been sentenced in court.
The married pedestrians were both knocked over as driver Victoria Angel Sutherland, 41, accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of her MG ZS utility vehicle’s brake pedal.
The incident occurred in Penrith’s Sainsbury’s car park on April 6 last year.
“The vehicle driven by Ms Angel reversed at speed some distance, colliding with a married couple,” prosecutor Jackie Partington told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court today.
At that moment, the couple were loading shopping into their own vehicle. The woman was thrown to the floor and pinned on her front.
She later said: “The next thing I knew the vehicle was on top of me. I was stuck under the rear of the vehicle.“
Her husband heard the sound of an engine revving, looked across and saw the MG reversing towards him.
He tried to grab hold of the vehicle. “He was then dragged underneath,” said Ms Partington. “He does say he genuinely thought he was going to die.”
The woman suffered a fractured wrist which was placed in a splint and then a plaster cast, and required physiotherapy.
Her husband was airlifted to hospital in Newcastle. Both bones in one forearm were fractured, and he suffered a knee injury which required repair.
Surgery to mend thumb ligament damage was unsuccessful and the man’s ability to carry out daily activities had been affected.
Angel Sutherland admitted two charges of causing serious injury by careless driving.
The court heard she was staying at a nearby Premier Inn with her parents, and in the car park had earlier collided with the A-frame of a camper van, which broke her brake light.
A short time later, she asked her mother to check the light. It was as she reversed — intending only to lightly press the brake pedal — that she instead accelerated in an automatic vehicle she’d had for 14 months.
A probation officer who interviewed her before sentencing told the court: “She is so, so very sorry for the injuries caused.”
Defence solicitor Chris Toms said Angel Sutherland had been a woman of exemplary character who cared for her parents and worked as a food production company executive assistant.
Of the accelerator press, Mr Toms said: “It is a classic mistake that perfectly normal, ordinary people make. She couldn’t be more upset by it.”
Angel Sutherland, of Corby Road, Stanion, near Kettering, was given a 12-month community order and must complete 200 hours’ unpaid work. She was also banned from driving for 18 months.
