A WOMAN brought traffic to a standstill when she refused to give way to a bus in Darlington town centre.

Joan Inskipp, 36, of North Road, Darlington, pleaded guilty, at Sedgefield Magistrates' Court, to obstructing the highway .

Magistrates heard that Inskipp was driving into the town centre on Northgate, where the road narrows to allow only one vehicle to pass, on May 25 this year.

There was a bus travelling in the opposite direction, which led to a stand-off when neither vehicle would reverse.

Tailbacks began to form in both directions, and the police were called.

Inskipp left her car and a police officer asked for her keys so he could remove it, but she refused because she said her boyfriend was coming to move it.

Eventually, police forcibly seized the keys by bending her thumb back, and reversed the car into nearby Crown Street to remove the obstruction.

Defence solicitor Graham Ablett said his client thought the bus driver could have let her through.

He said: "Quite a lot of people had started to gather and they were round the whole incident. She felt very frightened about that and uncomfortable at that and also felt very embarrassed about the incident."

Magistrates gave Inskipp a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered her to pay £100 prosecution costs.