A policeman told a jury how he hung onto a windscr

A policeman told a jury how he hung onto a windscreen wiper for dear life after a teenage learner driver drove straight at him in a Ford Escort.

Off-duty Hertfordshire traffic policeman Ralph Henley chased Tracy Hardwick, 19, after she pranged the rear wheel of his motorbike, a court heard.

After putting one hand to her mouth in horror, she drove round the officer who was gesturing for her to stop.

Hardwick, who only had a provisional license, then sped off with Pc Henley in pursuit, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

When he caught up with her in rush hour traffic he parked his 200cc Honda in her car’s path.

He stood in her path with both arms raised, but she mounted the kerb to dodge his bike, and hit him in the legs.

Pc Henley hung on with his left hand to a windscreen wiper as she drove off at speed for 40 yards until the officer fell on his backside.

Pc Henley broke two ribs and suffered a collapsed lung after the incident.

Andrew Urquhart, prosecuting, said Miss Hardwick had borrowed her father’s car without his consent – and had only ever driven it once before.

Pc Henley was riding with full leathers on Rectory Road, Rickmansworth, when he was first rammed by Miss Hardwick at a roundabout.

‘He got off with a view to speaking to the driver.

‘What he had in mind was to get the driver to drive off a little bit down the road and exchange details in the normal way.

‘He didn’t get a chance to do so as Miss Hardwick drove straight round the motorcycle and Mr Henley and drove off.

‘

She then took a left down Nightingale Road.

He followed her with a damaged mudguard ‘clattering’ behind him dangling by a wire.

At the junction with The Drive, Miss Hardwick was forced to stop when she hit a tail-back.

PC Henley parked his bike at an angle in front of the car and he told the court:

‘As I was approaching her I was trying to wave her down with my arm in a slowing-down type motion,’ he said.

He then stood in the gap with his arms raised to block her only escape route, Pc Henley said.

‘Events overtook me and she revved her engine and before I knew it she had struck me in the knee area and I collapsed on the bonnet.

‘There may have been a momentary stop but she then went off at speed around the corner,’ the officer said.

‘I was in a spreadeagled position hanging on to the vehicle’s nearside windscreen wiper with my left hand.

‘I hung on for as long as I could, but I knew I would come off sooner or later.

‘

Forty yards down a side street PC Henley landed on the road on his backside, and Hardwick sped off.

Clutching the wiper in his hand, Pc Henley flagged down a passing driver, and wrote down her car’s registration.

Hardwick turned herself in but she told officers a different story.

She said Pc Henley caused the accident when he stopped suddenly on Rectory Road.

Mr Urquhart told the jury: ‘She then claimed Mr Henley banged on her window.

She said she became frightened, and that’s why she drove off.

‘We say she was perfectly well aware she was not insured and was a learner driver without a qualified driver supervising her.

‘

She said she was ‘petrified’ when the officer caught up with her.

Hardwick claimed Pc Henley tried to open her driver’s door and when he could not open it ‘jumped on’ her car.

Hardwick of (64) Chiltern Drive, Rickmansworth, Herts denies one count of taking a conveyance without authority and one count of dangerous driving on 16 January this year.

The trial continues.

ends