A 17-year-old Penrith boy drove his car in a supermarket car park with three people hanging on to the outside.
CCTV captured the teen in the town’s Sainsbury’s supermarket car park at around 7.45pm on April 20.
Prosecutor George Shelley told Carlisle’s youth court how the boy initially drove the vehicle with someone lying across the bonnet. The teen then drove his car on to the upper level of the car park with three passengers hanging on to, or outside, the vehicle.
Mr Shelley, who showed the court the footage, said: “The Crown concede it is not the worst form of dangerous driving the courts have ever seen.”
Appearing in court today, the youth admitted dangerous driving and also a second charge of permitting another 16-year-old to use a vehicle without the necessary insurance being in force on an earlier date.
That had occurred on Gilwilly Road in mid-February at a time when the teen registered keeper was in the front passenger seat with three other boys in the rear.
Jeff Smith, giving mitigation for the teen, told the court: “The car has now been sold and doesn’t provide the temptation.”
Asked what he thought when he had watched the footage, the 17-year-old told the court: “I regret doing it now.”
His mother added: “He was going through a bit of a bad couple of months (at the time). He has turned himself around. He has had a great two months (since).”
The court heard of employment the teen had secured and of a hobby he was pursuing. He had also engaged well with a youth offending team and voluntarily attended sessions to address substance misuse.
Lead youth justice Keith Southward told the teen: “The first thing I said when I saw that (CCTV) was ‘you idiot’, which I think most responsible people would.”
The teen, who cannot be named because he is under 18, was made subject to a four-month referral order. He was banned from driving for a year, and must take an extended retest.
