The headmistress of a £20,000-a-year London preparatory school has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after a cyclist fractured his wrists when he fell from his bike.
Catherine Hitchcock, 49, was driving her Peugeot when she pulled into the path of Robert Atkinson at a mini-roundabout on Belvedere Grove, Wimbledon, on February 10.
Although the car did not strike Mr Atkinson, the incident caused him to fall forward on to his handlebars and then off the bicycle. The crash happened in Wimbledon Village, between Donhead Preparatory School and Ms Hitchcock’s £1.8 million home.
Ms Hitchcock was absent from Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday afternoon, where her lawyer entered the guilty plea on her behalf. The solicitor said she accepted that the cyclist had priority and had apologised for causing the collision.
He told the court there had been a “significant distance” between the car and the cyclist and described the injuries as “minor”.
Ms Hitchcock, who previously had a clean driving licence, was fined £911 and given five penalty points.
She has been headteacher of Donhead Preparatory School since January 2024, having joined the school in 2015 as assistant headteacher. The Wimbledon school was previously attended by actor Tom Holland and England rugby player Danny Cipriani.
Ms Hitchcock is also a governor of Putney High School and has served as a governor at several London private schools. She works with the Independent Schools Inspectorate, a Department for Education body responsible for inspecting private schools.
She studied geography at Oxford, where she also completed her PGCE, and later undertook further teaching qualifications at University College London. She began her teaching career at Finchley Catholic High School in 1999.
