A DRINK driver whose car hit a customer outside a fast food takeaway has narrowly escaped prison.

Natalie Ann Cowan was at the wheel of an Audi A3 which struck the man as he backed away from two aggressors in the car park at the Peterlee town centre takeaway shortly after 3am.

Durham Crown Court heard the victim was thrown over the bonnet and, as he lay on the ground, his wife feared the worst.

Liam O’Brien, prosecuting, said Cowan drove off and abandoned the Audi before going to the home of a friend’s mother.

There, she asked the householder to tell police she had a drink of vodka after arriving at her door, but the woman refused.

Cowan failed an initial breathalyser and a later formal breath test at the police station read double the limit for driving.

She told police the victim appeared “from nowhere” and initially claimed to have only drunk two alcopops, although she said she had more to drink after the accident.

Mr O’Brien said when cctv footage was played to her, she turned away and was unable to watch.

The victim suffered a fractured wrist among his injuries which led him to be off work for a lengthy period, resulting in a heavy financial loss.

Twenty-two-year-old Cowan, of Garden Terrace, Thornley, east Durham, admitted dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol, plus failing to stop and failing to report an accident on March 14.

David Lamb, mitigating, handed character references and testimonials to the court on behalf of Cowan.

He said she was of previous good character and has since distanced herself from some of the people she was mixing with at the time.

She pleaded guilty when the case came to court, before Christmas, and Judge Christopher Prince said he often hears defendants cutting themselves off from negative influences in their lives.

But, in this case, he said he believed it and accepted she is, “of positive good character”, based on the references he had read and the pre-sentence probation report.

He imposed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, but ordered Cowan to pay the victim £1,500 compensation towards his lost earnings.

She was also banned from driving for a year.