A driver who mowed down a multiple sclerosis sufferer - breaking her back - during a row over a minor traffic shunt has walked free from court.

Lesley Poole, 38, bumped into the back of Mandy Cordingley’s Motability Citroen car at a set of traffic lights.

But as Miss Cordingley, 53, rang police, Poole, flew into a rage and began shouting ‘it’s people like you who put in false claims.’

Then as Miss Cordingley, a healthcare assistant, tried to get the other driver’s details, Poole, from Blackley , revved the engine of her Vauxhall Corsa and drove into the victim causing her to briefly cling on the bonnet. She then swerved towards Miss Cordingley for a second time before driving away.

At Manchester Crown Court , Poole, a former rail worker and mother of two was given a 15-month suspended jail term and a three-year driving ban - after she sobbed in court and claimed she had ’genuine remorse.’

She had denied wrongdoing but was found guilty after a trial at Manchester Magistrates' Court of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

In a 999 call made to police by a witness, Miss Cordingley, also a mother of two was heard shouting: “She’s trying to run me over in the middle of the road. She’s actually trying to run me over. She’s going to try and run me over again but I’m not moving. She’s just hit my bloody arm now, my arm is killing me.

“She drove the car and purposely hit me, she did it about five times and on the sixth she hit me. I was trying to stop her on the road.”

She was taken to North Manchester General Hospital complaining of pain to the neck, lower back and left hip and some numbness to her right forearm. X-rays and CT scans were carried out and she was found to have a fracture in the vertebrae of her spine. She had to wear a brace to protect her spine and was forced to have four months off work.

After the case Miss Cordingley said: “I’m shocked she’s gone free because I thought she would go to jail. She will be laughing and thinking this is all funny - and will probably do it again now. A suspended sentence is a kick in the teeth.

"I genuinely thought that was it that night and yet what she’s got is a slap on the wrist. I had only got out of my car to get her details but she revved the engine and I hung on to the bonnet because I was terrified.

“I thought if I let go I was going to go under, I was holding on for my life. I remember thinking ‘I can’t die.’ She was revving the engine and smirking, that’s what keeps coming to me at night. She was trying to run me over. She was so crazy. I thought I was going to die. ‘I can’t sleep ever since it happened. All I can hear is the revving of the engine.’”

The shunt, which occurred in Oldham last December, caused little or no damage but trouble began when Miss Cordingley called the police to say the other driver was getting angry.

Poole was overheard shouting: ‘it’s people like you who put in false claims’ and began revving the car as Miss Cordingley got out of her mobility car to swap details. She reversed before driving into Miss Cordingley as she started to retreat.

Giving evidence behind a screen Miss Cordingley said: “I told her I was in a lot of pain but she got abusive and I was scared. She was accusing me of making something up, I was on my own and she had a man there with her.

“Police told me to get the driver's details but before I got chance to go to her car, she started driving and had me literally running backwards and I thought she was going to run me over and I held on to the bonnet for my life as I didn’t want to go underneath the car. I was holding the bonnet for dear life. If your life depends on it you will run, crawl, whatever you have to do - it doesn’t matter whether you have a disability or not.”

A witness tried to take the keys away from Poole but she got them back and Miss Cordingley added: “She started driving again and I’m in the middle of the road and she came straight at me. She was 100 per cent deliberately trying to come at me.’’

“I tried to get off the road and she drove towards me. I turned around and saw the car and I put my arm up to try and stop the car as daft as that might seem, it was just a reaction.”

Poole who was with her partner at the time, denied wrongdoing and described the road shunt as a ‘kiss.’

She told the court she had driven away after fearing she was about to assaulted by a man who intervened.

“The lady said ‘yes I’m fine, don’t worry about it, it’s fine.’ But as soon as I told her there was no damage to her car or my car, she said ‘oh I’ve got a pain in my back, I need an ambulance’.

“I was angry and upset and I thought ‘there’s nothing I can do here, she’s going to do what she’s going to do’. She was on the bonnet of my car, screaming like a banshee ‘you’re going no f**king where’.’’

Her lawyer David Morton said: “Miss Poole offers her deepest apology and appreciates the gravity of this incident and how the complainant has suffered. She did not intent to cause serious injury. She has showed genuine remorse and has a low likelihood of re-offending. This is clearly a situation where she panicked and made a mistake.”

Passing sentence, the judge Mr Recorder Mukhtar Hussain QC told Poole: “This was undoubtedly dreadful behaviour on your part but I have read carefully your letter in which you express your remorse in relation to what happened to the victim in this case. Given these circumstances I am going to take a risk with you.’’

Poole will have to abide by a 9.30pm to 7am curfew for six months and pay a £100 victim surcharge.