This is the shocking moment when a local gardener reverses into the front of a parked taxi following a confrontation with the driver.

Charlotte Finley, 37, had already reversed twice into the vehicle which was parked behind hers outside a shop in North Street, Cardigan.

When the taxi driver, who was on foot, approached and confronted her she told him that he was not parked in a taxi rank before once more shunting her car into the front of his vehicle before driving off at some speed.

Finley, of St Dogmaels, admitted dangerous driving and criminal damage and was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, April 10.

The court was shown this CCTV footage from outside the shop on North Road, Cardigan, which showed Finley coming out of the shop at 10.30pm in the evening on June 4 last year.

She reversed twice into the front of a taxi parked on the road behind her vehicle.

The owner of the taxi, who was walking down the road on foot, can then be seen remonstrating with Finley through the open door of her car.

She then reverses a third time at speed and seemingly deliberately into the front of the taxi, narrowly missing the taxi driver with the open door of her vehicle, before driving off.

Video: Crown Prosecution Service

The force of the impact caused £500 worth of damage to the taxi.

His Honour Judge Geraint Walters heard that the taxi driver was walking towards his vehicle when he saw it shunted back twice.

When he confronted Finley she said "you are not in the taxi rank" before forcefully reversing into his vehicle, forcing him to move out of the way to avoid being hit by her door.

In mitigation, barrister Jonathan Tarrant directed the judge’s attention to a pre-sentence report which stated that Finley was ‘fairly isolated in her social circumstances’ and under some pressure at the time.

He said that there was no evidence that alcohol had played a part in the incident.

The court heard that Finley had ten previous convictions, one for criminal damage as a juvenile and two drink-driving offences in 2007 and 2011.

“When the owner [of the taxi] appears you drive what appears to be deliberately into the car. It must have been an upsetting incident for the car owner,” said Judge Walters.

He gave Finley an eight-month prison sentence for the dangerous driving with a two-month concurrent sentence for the criminal damage offence. Both sentences were suspended for two years.

Judge Walters also disqualified Finley from driving for a year, after which she will have to retake her test.

She will also have to pay a £114 victim surcharge and undertake 20 days of rehabilitation activity and 150 hours of unpaid work.

“If you breach the order you will end up serving the sentence,” the judge told Finley.