A HAMPSHIRE teenager who ploughed his car into a tree while carrying three passengers just days after a driving ban had ended has again had his licence taken away.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Christopher Cooper, 19, had no insurance and only a provisional licence when he drove into the New Forest in a Peugeot 205 he had purchased after his driving ban had finished.

Despite pleas from his passengers to slow down because of the wet conditions, the court heard how he sped down country roads until he lost control on a bend leaving the road and skidding into a tree.

Both Cooper, of Laburnum Close in Hythe, and his girlfriend spent several days in hospital after the accident and Judge Melville told him: "It was a miracle you, her and the other two passengers weren't more seriously hurt or even killed."

Cooper sustained serious leg injuries while his girlfriend Sian Jones suffered a broken neck. The two other passengers escaped with only minor injuries.

At the time of the crash in May last year the teenager had only just finished a six-month ban handed down in punishment for two speeding offences and then being caught driving without insurance.

For the full story see today's Daily Echo