Naomi Campbell welcomes assault claim apology

Naomi Campbell: "I will not be held hostage to my past" (Reuters)

Supermodel Naomi Campbell said she wanted to move on from an incident in which she was accused of assaulting a driver from the back seat of a luxury 4x4, after he said he regretted involving the police.

New York City driver Miodrag Mejdina had told police that Campbell hit him from behind and his head struck the steering wheel of the black Cadillac Escalade.

But he said through his lawyer yesterday that he got "angry and over-reacted", the incident was "blown out of proportion" and he wanted to apologise to Campbell "for causing that to happen". He is not pressing charges.

Campbell, 39, issued a statement last night, saying: "On Tuesday 2nd March I was accused of unacceptable behaviour towards a driver in New York.

"I have worked very hard on correcting my previous wrongdoings and I will not be held hostage to my past.

"I try to treat everyone with respect and I am pleased the driver has apologised. I would like to put the last few days behind me and move on."

The catwalk legend has faced a series of lawsuits and criminal cases including accusations of attacking household employees and two police officers at London's Heathrow Airport.