A barista has been fined after her mother persuaded her to flee the scene of a collision with another car while on supervised driving practise.

The incident occurred on November 19 last year in the car park of Weston’s Iceland supermarket on Weston Links.

Alexandra Bagley, aged 20, pleaded guilty to both failing to report a road accident and failing to stop and was visibly upset during the hearing at North Somerset Courthouse on Tuesday.

Bagley was seen hitting the bumper and the side of a Peugeot 3008 by a member of the public while turning into a parking space, denting and scratching the vehicle.

The pair made no attempt to leave insurance details at the scene and the incident was not reported to the police within 24 hours.

The court was told that Bagley’s mother instructed her to get out of the car and switch seats with her before driving away, thinking that she only needed to inform her own insurance company.

Bagley had been having driving lessons for around a month and admitted that she had been unfamiliar with the automatic Rover she had been driving on the day in question.

The cost of the damage to the Peugeot totalled £345 and Bagley’s mother was required to pay £325 to her own insurance company.

Noel Hector, mitigating, praised the defendant’s conduct throughout the eventual investigation.

He said: “We have taken into account how co-operative you have been with the relevant authorities and this incident as a whole is a great pity.

“We feel that you were both badly advised and badly supported by your mother in this matter.

“It would be a decent gesture if you were given support by your mother in paying the fines that we are imposing today.”

Bagley was ordered to pay a fine of £55, court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £20, totalling £160.

She was also given five penalty points on her driving licence.