He stopped so close to her that her body was actually leaning over the car

Dean Pulling, prosecuting

Passing a nine-month jail term suspended for 18 months, Judge Gareth Davies told the court that while he believed Valetta deserved to be imprisoned, he accepted that the CSA had pushed him over the edge.

The court had been told that warden Susan Williams was so traumatised by the incident she could not leave her house for two weeks afterwards and she was unable to return to work for a month.

Valetta explained that he had failed to take his medication - which had been prescribed for stress - on the day of the incident last October.

And when he returned to his car in Port Talbot town centre to find a parking fine, he admitted he was "absolutely furious".

Valetta was found guilty at Swansea Crown Court

He then drove off in search of a traffic warden and when he saw Mrs Williams, he mounted the kerb and braked to a halt just in front of her.

Mrs Williams was temporarily paralysed with fear and backed up against the shop front behind her.

Valetta, who defended himself in court, claimed he had mounted the kerb to avoid a group of people in the road.

But Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said Valetta had driven on purpose at the traffic warden in a bid to scare her and driven dangerously in the process.

CSA payments

"He drove into the road at speed and was seen to veer his car left towards her mounting the kerb," he told the jury.

"He stopped so close to her that her body was actually leaning over the car.

"This could quite easily have caused injury to Mrs Williams and it is extremely fortuitous that it did not."

Valetta said he had been under a lot of stress at the time following a long running problem with payments to the Child Support Agency.

The defendant, of Longvue Road, Port Talbot, told the judge: "I offer my sincere apologies to Mrs Susan Williams and I ask for her forgiveness."

The judge said that it was a "very serious case" but that giving Valetta a jail sentence would only "make matters worse".

Valetta was also disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay his victim �400 compensation.