A PEOPLE carrier which reversed over and killed a pensioner in a Bluewater car park sounded like it was being driven by a "boy racer", a court heard.

Dawn Chedd, 50, is charged with causing the death by careless driving of 71-year-old Claire Bishop on January 4 last year in level one of the Blue area car park at the Greenhithe shopping centre.

The Cranleigh Road, Swanley, resident was in charge of a silver Vauxhall Zafira which reversed rapidly in a tight arc, hitting four other cars before fatally striking Mrs Bishop, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

Childminder Chedd ended up face-down on the floor having allegedly fallen from the driver's side while Mrs Bishop was partially trapped under the car in a pool of her own blood, a jury of seven men and five women was told.

Witness Nigel Holmes was heading for an afternoon of shopping and a visit to the cinema with his wife Vivian and daughter Fiona at around 3pm when he heard a screeching of tyres.

He said: "The engine was revving very fast.

"It was the sort of sound you thought 'good grief, we have got a boy racer actually trying to do a handbrake turn in the shopping precinct'.

"It all happened very quickly."

Mr Holmes' daughter Fiona was with him about 20 to 30ft from the incident and ran to attend to a "dazed" Chedd before spotting Mrs Bishop trapped underneath the people carrier, the court heard.

She said: "Her head and shoulders were just out behind the back wheel of the car and she was lying face-down.

"She was still breathing but there was a very big pool of blood that she was face-down in which was making it difficult for her to breathe."

The Zafira, which had a young child in the back seat, had been travelling at 15 to 20mph with the driver's door open "much faster than you would expect to see a car reversing", Miss Holmes told the jury.

Mrs Bishop's husband Ron was with his wife when they returned to their car near the entrance to Costa Coffee after three hours of shopping.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Catherine Donnelly told the court that as Mr Bishop heard the Zafira hitting the other cars "he turned and as he did so he saw the rear of the people carrier.

"He saw it just as it was about to hit his wife and he says there was no time to react."

Once passers-by had managed to lift the people carrier off Mrs Bishop, she was taken to King's College Hospital in London but she died from her injuries at 8.40am on January 9.

Chedd claims she fainted and does not remember any of the incident, Miss Donnelly told the court.

She added: "We know that she came out of the space at speed and must have had her foot on the accelerator.

"The crown will say it is a lapse, and an important lapse, that caused the death of Claire Bishop."

Chedd has pleaded not guilty to causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving.

The trial continues.