A TEENAGE boy who switched from the back seat to the driving seat of a car as it hurtled through Eastington at speeds of up to 40mph has narrowly escaped returning to prison.

Stroud magistrates heard how the 17-year-old from Hardwicke was in the back seat of the Vauxhall Nova as his friend led police on a high-speed chase through Eastington, when the pair decided to switch places while the car was in motion.

A police stinger burst three tyres, but the vehicle, which had been taken from a Quedgeley car park without the owner's consent, carried on driving for several miles.

While on bail, the boy took a second car. Following a police chase, he swerved off the road and jumped out of the moving vehicle as it crashed into three wooden bollards and fell into a ditch.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, failing to stop for the police and driving without insurance or a license on July 25 and taking a vehicle without the owner's consent between July 24 and 27.

He received a 12-month community rehabilitation order, a four-month curfew between 7pm and 7am and a two-year disqualification from driving.