A hit-and-run driver was seen travelling "impatiently and aggressively" in the moments before he knocked down a 52-year-old pedestrian as she crossed a busy city road to buy milk, a court heard yesterday.

Craig Hudson, from Cocksheds Lane, Halesowen, was a disqualified driver who had borrowed his friend's car to get to a golf day organised by his employers when the collision h appened, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

The 31-year-old struck mother-of-one Elaine Brown, also from Halesowen, who later died of her injuries, on the morning of November 4 last year as she attempted to cross the A45 Coventry Road in the Sheldon area of Birmingham.

Neil Williams, prosecuting, said: "Mrs Brown had arrived at Dixons, the estate agents, to work there.

"It was around about 9am and she realised there was no milk in the office and so told a colleague she was going to go across the road in order to get some, but I'm afraid she didn't reach the other side of the road.

"The manner of Mr Hudson's driving on the approach to the incident was noted by a number of other drivers."

He said Hudson had been driving close to cars in front of him as well as undertaking.

The jury was told he had been chopping and changing lanes as well as moving from side to side in his own lane.

Mr Williams continued: "The prosecution say...that he was driving in a way that was impatient and aggressive."

The lawyer said Mrs Brown had made it across two of the three lanes she needed to cross to get to the other side.

"It was in an effort to cross the third lane that the collision occurred," Mr Williams said.

"Mrs Brown stepped forward into the third lane, hesitated, seemed to draw back but then made another attempt to cross and it was there or thereabouts that Mr Hudson came into lane three from behind other traffic.

"It would appear that he moved from lane two into lane three very shortly before the collision occurred between him and Mrs Brown."

The lawyer said Mrs Brown hit the bonnet centrally and was thrown several feet into the air before landing on the road.

Mr Williams said: "Mr Hudson continued on. He forced his way through the traffic and, having got through the traffic, then passed through the signal gantry which by then was showing red against him and passed through those lights and took a left."

Mrs Brown was taken to hospital with serious head injuries from which she died the following day.

Mr Williams said Hudson handed himself into a local police station on November 7.

Reading from transcripts of a police interview the defendant gave about the collision, Mr Williams said: "[Mr Hudson said] 'I'm on the A45 and this woman just stepped out from nowhere. There was just nothing I could do. I didn't have time. I felt a collision and just panicked."

Hudson, who told police he had been travelling within the speed limit at 40mph, has pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated vehicle taking.

The details of the charge are that he took the Audi A4 without the consent of its owner, who the prosecution said had let him borrow it on the understanding that another friend drove it, and that after unlawfully taking it and before it was recovered, owing to the driving of the vehicle, an accident occurred by which the death of Mrs Brown was caused.

The defendant has pleaded guilty to one count of driving while disqualified after he was banned for three years in August 2005. He has also admitted dangerous driving after jumping the red light following the collision.

The trial continues.