A crazed Croydon driver was so angry about receiving a parking ticket he chased after a traffic warden in his van and knocked him off his moped.

Lester Wilkinson, 36, from Lincoln Road, South Norwood, was found guilty of driving without due care and attention, failure to stop and criminal damage at Croydon Magistrates' Court this week.

The court was told the incident happened earlier this year, on February 10 at about 2pm, when Wilkinson parked his company's silver van in Lower Addiscombe Road.

Wilkinson - who was driving a silver van carrying his company's logo - Gardner Security, did not buy a ticket before he went into a Woolworths store.

A few minutes later Croydon Council traffic warden Joseph Aderiye spotted the van parked illegally and issued it with a penalty charge notice before driving away on his moped.

Mr Aderiye said he saw the van in his wing mirror before it knocked his bike, sending him flying into the road.

Mr Aderiye told the hearing: "I noticed the van driving very fast towards me, it was heading straight at me so I manoeuvred to the side of the road. The van just careered towards me and into my bike. I managed to jump off the bike before it hit the ground."

Mr Aderiye said he was unharmed but left in shock. About £600 of damage was done to the moped and silver paint markings were left on its bodywork.

Wendy Shurrock, defending, said the traffic warden had simply assumed the van was the same vehicle that he had given the ticket to, but in fact it was an entirely different vehicle.

Eyewitness Paul Armstrong said: "I saw the van hit the moped, swerve back into the middle of the road before shooting round the corner where I was crossing the road, I had to turn around and get back on the path otherwise it would have hit me."

Wilkinson, who denied the charges, told the court he had not gone after the traffic warden as he had not seen the ticket being issued.

The dad-of-three added: "I felt gutted when I saw that I had a ticket but it is one of those things, I thought that was quick', because I had only been in the shop for three or four minutes. I would not do something like this.

"I don't drive like that. Why would I risk my licence when I need to drive for my job? It doesn't make any sense to me, it didn't happen."

The defendant, who has two previous driving convictions including a period of disqualification, was released on unconditional bail for pre-sentence reports.

He is due back before the court on Thursday, July 19. After the case Wilkinson told the Croydon Guardian he was planning an appeal.