Tributes have been paid to a “lovely lady” who died after she was flung from the bonnet of a car in New Barnet yesterday.

The woman who was knocked down outside Sainsbury’s in East Barnet Road has been named locally as Christie McHugh, who was in her 30s.

Detectives believe she was driving when a dispute broke out with another woman driver at approximately 6.40pm. Police suspect she got out of her car when she was struck by a vehicle and carried some distance on the bonnet before being thrown into a Belisha beacon. 

Paul Lawrence is landlord of the Lord Kitchener pub opposite the zebra crossing where the incident happened. Paying tribute to Mrs McHugh he said: “She was a lovely lady. It’s very sad and tragic. She was a local girl – she would come in here quite a bit.”

Flowers have been tied to the Belisha beacon in tribute to Mrs McHugh who had a five-year-old son and a baby girl with her husband John.

One card reads: “We are so going to miss you Christie. You’re one special person and mother. All our love Lee, Tash, Jade and Robyn. RIP xxxx.”

A post-mortem will be held at Finchley Mortuary tomorrow.

A shop assistant in New Barnet Fruit and Veg, who asked not to be named, said: “I was here when it happened – I was sitting in the store and I heard a lot of shouting outside.

“I saw a woman and her head was bleeding and then I saw a car speed off.

“Someone came and tried to massage the woman’s heart for ten to 15 minutes and then the paramedics came but they couldn’t bring her back.

“I’m just in a bit of shock. I feel very sorry for the woman and her relatives.”

Police later recovered a Vauxhall Insignia and arrested a woman at an address in Barnet in connection with the inquiry.

She was taken to a north west London police station and was subsequently bailed pending further enquiries to a date in late April.