Labour's deputy leader fined £350 for careless driving after parking accident

The Cabinet Minister was fined 350 and ordered to pay 70 costs and a 15 victim surcharge at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Her driving licence was also endorsed with three points after her solicitor entered the guilty plea on her behalf.

It emerged that prosecutors considered charging Ms Harman with leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report it.

But the potentially more serious offences were not brought to court and a second charge of driving while using her mobile phone was withdrawn yesterday.

The MP for Camberwell and Peckham did not attend the hearing, instead attending a Cabinet meeting in nearby Downing Street.

She was at the centre of a police inquiry after she reversed her Rover 75 into a parked car at low speed in Bushey Hill Road, Camberwell, south-east London.

The 59-year-old was seen hitting the car by its owner who was watching from the window of his flat nearby and called police.

The bump took place at about 10pm on July 3 last year as Ms Harman returned from visiting people made homeless by a blaze at a block of flats in which six died.

Michael Jennings, prosecuting, said Ms Harman was trying to manoeuvre out from between two parked cars when the collision occurred.

He said Ms Harman was using her mobile phone at the time. No damage was caused to either car and no insurance claims were made.

Solicitor Mark Haslam, who represented Ms Harman, asked for the "maximum credit" for his client's guilty plea which was made when the other matters were dropped.

Mr Haslam said: "This is a parking manoeuvre. It takes place in a very short timespan. It takes place at a very slow speed, less than 5mph. There is no injury, no damage and no insurance claim by either party in relation to either vehicle."

District Judge Nicholas Evans gave Ms Harman seven days to pay. No details of her financial circumstances were revealed.

A spokeswoman for the Cabinet Minister said: "Ms Harman fully accepts the court's judgment."