A mum has admitted to using her Range Rover to try and move an Insulate Britain protester who was blocking the road while she was on the school run.
Sherrilyn Speid, 35, appeared at Southend Magistrates' Court today and pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving.
The mum from Essex had been at the wheel of her black Range Rover Sport when she came across an Insulate Britain protest in Grays at about 8.30am last October.
The scene was caught on camera by a passer-by and heavily-bleeped footage was shown in court.
Prosecutor Ashley Petchey said three protesters were sitting across the road and queues of traffic had built up behind them.
Speid got out of her vehicle and "remonstrated" with the demonstrators, the court heard.
A woman is seen telling the protesters they must "move out of the way now" and "my son needs to go to school and I need to go to work".
She also says: "My son is 11 and he needs to go to school."
Of the dangerous driving count, Mr Petchey said: "It is not an excessive speed as the driver was using the brakes quite heavily. This is done on two occasions.
"The Range Rover stops very close to the female protester."
Mr Petchey said the dangerous driving meant that injury could have been caused.
He said: "Clearly this was an incident where there was a risk, even if no injury was caused."
An assault charge against Speid, in which it was alleged that protester Bethany Mogie had been beaten, was dismissed after the prosecution said it would produce no evidence.
The prosecution said it would ask for £310 in costs and a pre-sentence report was ordered.
Peter Hoche, chairman of the bench, unconditionally bailed Speid to next appear at Basildon Magistrates' Court on May 6 for sentencing.
He also banned Speid from driving by issuing her with an interim driving disqualification.
At the height of the Insulate Britain road-blocking protests, Speid attempted to move the activists with her Range Rover.
“What they’re doing is wrong," she said afterwards.
"They’re not peaceful, they’re obstructive and they’re rude," she continued.
"I’m upset I lost my temper and maybe I could’ve gone about it in a different way but I will always stand up for what I believe in — that people should be entitled to live their normal lives."
She said at the time that she was standing up for other mums who needed to take their children to school in the mornings.
Insulate Britain has demanded that the government invest money in making Britain's homes less leaky and cold, in a bid to save energy and therefore protect the environment.
