The trial of a senior politician will start today after she pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Councillor Nilgun Canver, 56, Haringey Borough Council’s former cabinet member for environment, is accused of lying to the police about a car accident in which her son was involved.

Prosecutors accuse Cllr Canver of telling police she was behind the wheel of the family’s BMW on January 24, 2013, when it hit a man and crashed into a lamppost in Seven Sisters Road.

She retracted the claim just minutes later.

The 56-year-old denies attempting to take the blame for the crash and is due to appear at Wood Green Crown Court this morning to stand trial.

At a plea hearing held in November, defence lawyer Anya Louise said the St Ann’s ward councillor had “a momentary lapse in the heat of the moment” when she arrived at the scene of the crash and told police she had been driving the car.

Cllr Canver stepped down from her cabinet position on the council after receiving her court summons in August.

She has also been suspended from the Labour Party pending the outcome of her trial and has not been renominated to stand in this year’s council elections.

Burak Canver, 22, was convicted in August 2013 of taking the family’s BMW 520d without consent, failing to stop after an accident and driving without insurance.