A SEVENTEEN-year-old from Penrith allowed his 16-year-old pal to drive his car and then on a different occasion drove dangerously in a multi-storey car park with another youth clinging to the bonnet.

At Carlisle Youth Court, the teenager admitted both offences.

Prosecutor George Shelley said the first offence – permitting the 16-year-old to drive his car while uninsured - happened at 11.30pm on a Saturday in February when a police officer stopped the car in Penrith.

The driver was a 16-year-old boy who had no licence and consequently could not be insured on a public road. The defendant, the owner of the car, was in the passenger seat while three more youths were in the rear of the car.

The dangerous driving offence happened two months later in April when at 8pm CCTV images recorded at the Sainsbury's car park at New Squares in Penrith showed how the defendant drove from a lower level of the car park to an upper level.

At the time, another youth was seen clinging on to the bonnet of the car. There was also footage of the car being driven while another male hanging out of the car’s window across the car park.

“When he was interviewed, he admitted driving with somebody across the bonnet,” said Mr Shelley. “He accepted that this would have amounted to dangerous driving. He also admitted driving up the ramp to the upper level of the car park with three persons hanging to the car outside.”

Mr Shelley confirmed that the defendant was a young man of previous good character.

Jeff Smith, defending, said the defendant had now sold his car so there was no longer any prospect of him facing the temptation to drive in that way.

“He knows he’ll be disqualified and will face an extended driving test,” said Mr Smith.  It’s not the worst driving the court will have encountered. Of course, it was dangerous because there were youths hanging on to the vehicle.

“They are as responsible for the problems he is here for today. He knows that when he gets his driving licence back he must not do it again. I think you can be confident that a lesson has been learned.”

Presiding magistrate Keith Southward told the teenager said his first thought when he saw the CCTV footage of the dangerous driving was: “You idiot.”

The teenager’s mother said that she too had a similar reaction, adding that she thought: “What a waste of a licence.” She said the teenager had been going through a “bad couple of months”. But since the teenager had sold his car he had turned himself around and pulled himself together.

Magistrates imposed a four-month referral order and banned the teenage from driving for a year, reminding him that he will have to reapply for his driving licence and pass the extended test before driving independently.

The teenager must also pay £85 costs and a £32 victim surcharge. The defendant can not be named for legal reasons.