A frustrated Dubbo taxi driver who used his car to nudge a click and collect traffic controller three times, will be off the road for a year.
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Craig Maxwell Viant, 60, was driving his white Ford Territory through the Orana Mall car park when he parked at the entrance of the Woolworths click and collect, about 3.22pm on August 24 this year.
According to court documents a traffic controller approached Viant to explain he would have to wait because the click and collect was full.
Viant according to police didn't wind down his window and began yelling at the man.
Believing Viant wasn't listening, the traffic controller stood in the driveway entrance to the click and collect to prevent him driving through.
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The man turned around to look inside to see if there was an opening in the click and collect, when Viant drove his car forward hitting the man's right upper leg causing the man to "recoil in fright".
Police said Viant continued shouting at the man, and again drove the vehicle at him again hitting his right leg.
The man stood still and continued to tell Viant he couldn't come through, when Viant for a third time drove his vehicle forward colliding with the man.
As the man stood in place, Viant gave up and reversed, and drove out of the car park another way.
Police attended a short time later, when the man told police the impact had broken a portable radio inside his pants pocket.
The next day police attended Viant's home, where he made full admissions, telling officers he had stopped at the click and collect to pull over to use his phone, when he was approached by the man, who began arguing with him.
He said he did not see the man wearing high-visibility gear or know he was a traffic controller. Viant initially denied he pushed the man with his car several times on purpose, but later said he must have bumped the man when he put it into gear.
In Dubbo Local Court last Wednesday, Viant pleaded guilty to knowingly drive in a manner that menaces another person, damaging property and disregarding directions of a traffic controller.
Defence lawyer Tim Cullenward said his client was very concerned about his future.
He said Viant had just received his first COVID-19 vaccination and was leaving Orana Mall when he got a phone call from his wife and stopped the car.
Mr Cullenward said he wasn't aware the person in front of him was a traffic controller, and being August - the height of the COVID outbreak in Dubbo - he didn't want to wind down his window due to the risk of transmission.
He said he became "very frustrated" and wanted to go home and made the "very wrong decision" to drive forward.
Mr Cullenward said Viant was travelling at a particularly low speed, and the traffic controller "recoiled in fright".
"He's very embarrassed to be in court ... He tells me explaining this to wife and children was particularly embarrassing," Mr Cullenward said.
"He agrees it was an aggressive way to behave, and that there's many other ways to alleviate the frustration."
The court heard Viant had no criminal history, had been a taxi driver for several years, and also worked as a self-employed stock and station agent.
"He has a lot to lose and he accepts that," Mr Cullenward said.
Magistrate Gary Wilson said it was fortunate no one was injured in the out-of-character attack.
"How you put yourself in this position is quite incredible, given your lack of any history what so ever," he said.
"Given you're a professional driver, highly spoken of and here you are with quite a significant offence to say the least."
"Even if he wasn't a traffic controller ... to carry on in that manner. It's extremely serious."
Viant was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order, disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined $1700.