An enraged company boss mowed down a policeman outside his son's primary school for slapping a parking ticket on his car.

Schoolchildren watched in horror as Paul Hughes, 40, accelerated his Land Rover Discovery into shocked special constable Andreas Hagemann, 31.

Constable Hagemann was knocked to the ground and forced to roll out of the way as Hughes, his face red with rage, bore down on him. Looking down from the driver's window Hughes simply shrugged and grinned as the terrified officer lay on the ground.

The incident happened on the school run as Hughes, the owner of a transport and storage firm, was picking up his nine-year-old son Curtis in Tynemouth, North Tyneside.

The company director pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at North Tyneside magistrates court and was warned he could be sent to jail for the offence.

Kevin Wardlaw prosecuting said: "Priory Primary School in line with a lot of schools has problems with parking.

"At around 3.50pm on November 26 Mr Hughes was seen parked on the yellow zig-zag lines by the school gates.

"Constable Hagemann warned Mr Hughes he was causing an obstruction and asked him to move on. But Mr Hughes pulled into busy Percy Park Road and stopped in the middle of the road causing a tailback of cars.

"The constable approached the car again and asked Hughes to pull into a nearby street so he could talk to him. The driver was enraged and shouted that he was not causing an obstruction.

"He pulled into a nearby road and Mr Hagemann noted he was not wearing a seatbelt and began to issue a fixed penalty ticket for causing an obstruction."

The court heard how Hughes was in such a rage his face had turned red. And as Constable Hagemann walked to the front of the car to write down the registration number, Hughes pulled the handbrake off and rammed the officer.

Mr Wardlaw added: "Mr Hagemann heard the vehicle engine begin to rev and looked up to see Hughes with an expression of rage on his face staring straight at him. The Land Rover then moved forward towards the officer and struck him on the legs.

"He fell forward and onto the ground and was forced to roll out of the way to avoid the wheels of the car.

"Hughes shrugged his shoulders and grinned sarcastically. He never asked how the officer was or expressed any remorse.

"The scene was witnessed by children and their parents at the school and particularly upset one little boy who had asked his father to take him to meet the police officer just moments before the incident."

Special Constable Hagemann was left with tenderness to his legs and wrist and badly shaken by the incident.

Speaking after the hearing Hughes said he had been specifically targeted by the officer who he claimed was 'acting like Hitler.'

Hughes said: "I am absolutely devastated that it has come to this.

"I have been picking up my kids from that school for years and there have always been parking problems. I felt like he was picking on me just for the sake of it.

"I just lost my temper and wanted to get out of the place as quickly as possible. I wasn't thinking straight and drove off and realised I had hit him.

"I didn't mean to knock him over but he fell to the ground and acted like he was dying or something. It was completely over the top.

"My solicitor doesn't think I will go to jail. I will probably just get a hefty fine. I just want it to be all over with."

Hughes, 40, of Bray Close, Wallsend, North Tyneside, owns haulage and storage company North East Express Transport based in North Shields.

He is married to Deborah, 36, and they have two children Ellie, 3, and Curtis.

Magistrates chairman Cliff Winslow said: "We consider this to be a very serious offence for which a custodial sentence must be considered. We are therefore asking for all options reports."

Hughes was given an interim driving disqualification until his next court appearance on May 16.

Chief Inspector Steve Neill, of Northumbria police, said: "In North Tyneside we take this issue relating to parking in and around schools very seriously.

"We frequently have both uniformed and plain clothed officers in areas around schools monitoring theses situations and we have an operation due to be launched this summer to tackle these issues.

"In this case it was a special constable who was going about his duty when he was driven into in this way and we take matters of this nature very seriously."