A VAN driver could barely see and thought his face was melting after being doused with an unknown liquid before he ran over his estranged mum, a court heard.

Mark Buckland is accused of intentionally mowing down his mother Martha Drain after a chance meeting when they were driving in opposite directions in Maldon Road, Tiptree.

At some stage, Mrs Drain turned around her pick-up truck and parked just in front of Buckland.

She claimed she approached the window of Buckland’s van with a bottle of Fairy Liquid in her hand and when he goaded her with a large knife she squirted it at the glass before he intentionally drove at her - once clipping her with the wing mirror and then running over her leg.

But Buckland denies there was a knife and said his mother doused him in liquid which left his face burning.

He said he accidentally hit her because he couldn’t see.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court, Buckland, 22, said: “She was squeezing the bottle with both hands, trying to get this stuff all over me.

“Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t Fairly Liquid.

“I thought it was acid and it was going to melt my face.”

Buckland, of no fixed address, said he drove off immediately because he was worried about his health and accidentally hit his mother twice because he couldn’t see.

He said: “My vision was blurred and impaired.

“It was definitely not deliberate.”

Ms Drain suffered multiple leg fractures and needed corrective surgery.

When asked how it felt to know his mother had been hurt, Buckland said: “It is not a nice thing to see my mother was in pain.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen and I didn’t want it to happen.”

Buckland said the substance he had been hit with was yellow and watery.

Straight after the incident he rushed to his grandmother’s home nearby and washed his face and hands thoroughly.

Buckland, of no fixed address, denies dangerous driving, grievous bodily harm with intent and an alternative charge of grievous bodily harm.

n The trial continues.