BLUE comic Roy 'Chubby' Brown hit a 21-year-old woman in the face during a foul-mouthed dispute in a supermarket car park, a court heard today.

The 6ft-plus 65-year-old punched slightly-built Kelly Oliver in the face after he nearly bumped his Lexus into her grandmother's parked car, Teesside Magistrates Court heard.

Brown, charged under his real name Royston Vasey, denies common assault last September in Sainsbury's car park in Middlesbrough town centre. Viviene Turner, prosecuting, said Brown, of The Firs, East Harsley, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, reacted angrily after Miss Oliver watched him reverse the silver Lexus within an inch of her grandmother's car.

The court heard he wound down his window and shouted: "What the f*** are you looking at?" Miss Oliver, now six months pregnant, said she did not respond.

She then walked over to a ticket machine and said moments later Brown got out of his car and marched up to her.

Miss Turner said: "Miss Oliver describes the defendant appearing to be tense and aggressive and he shouted at her 'You should have moved your f****** car."

Miss Oliver, 5ft 3in and seven-and-a-half stone, then claimed Brown hit her with his right hand on the left side of her face.

Miss Turner told the court that the woman defended herself before her grandmother came to her aid shouting: "What are you doing? She's only a bairn."

Brown replied: "A f****** bairn?" He drove off when the grandmother told him she would note down the registration number of his car, magistrates were told. Miss Oliver went to the doctors the next day and was told to take painkillers.

Ms Turner said Brown claimed Miss Oliver called him a 'fat bastard' and he said this caused him alarm and distress.

She said he was well-known for using bad language in his stage act, during which the audience shouts at him.

She said: "Even if the magistrates do find unpleasantries were exchanged, would this, given the nature of Mr Vasey's job and his stage act, cause him alarm and distress?"

The court heard Brown admitted in 1996 to common assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his ex-wife, for which he was fined £300 and ordered to pay compensation.

Miss Oliver had two cautions relating to violent incidents and failed to comply with a dispersal notice in 2008, the court was told.

Miss Oliver, wearing a pink tracksuit and with a visible baby bump, told the court she was shocked because she was a fan of the comic and had some of his DVDs.

She told magistrates she did not know who was driving the Lexus which almost hit the VW Caddy belonging to her grandmother, Linda McAleer, 63.

Miss Oliver said: "He was trying to reverse out of his parking bay and he nearly hit my Nana's car.

"My Nana had to pull forward a bit so he wouldn't hit her car."

She said she walked off and it was then that the row started.

"He wound down his window and then shouted at me Who the f*** are you looking at?

"I told him to shut up.

"I carried on to get my ticket.

"All of a sudden he just stopped and that's when he got out of his car.

"He started hurrying up towards me.

"As he walked over he shouted 'You should have moved your f****** car for me.

"I didn't say nothing."

She said she felt intimidated, adding that Brown did not seem like a normal person and looked like he was "on something".

She said the comedian then got up close, into her personal space, and then punched her. She pushed him back and then Mrs McAleer came to help and Brown drove off.

Under cross-examination by Eric Elliott QC, she said she had done nothing to provoke the incident.

She said: "I couldn't believe it because I have got his DVDs at home.

"I like him.

"I couldn't believe he could do something like that."

Mr Elliott said her claim that she only said "shut up" to Brown was an absolute load of nonsense.

The court was shown CCTV images of the row, but the Chairman of the Bench, Fran Wood, said it had not been helpful to either the defence or the prosecution.

Mrs McAleer, who has brought up the complainant since she was seven and is a carer for her disabled husband, said she saw the comedian hit Miss Oliver.

She told the court of the effect the alleged incident has had on her granddaughter.

"Kelly doesn't like leaving the house, doesn't like going to supermarkets, doesn't go out very much since this happened," she said.

Eyewitness Rachel McKenna, 38, had just parked her car containing three children, aged 12, eight and five, when she heard swearing.

"He hit the girl, then she grabbed his arm with her left hand," she told the court. She recognised the man as Chubby Brown and noticed the letters RCB in his number plate.

Recalling the incident, she told Miss Oliver: "You know who that was, don't you?

"You need to speak to the police. He shouldn't have done that."

The case continues.