A 'BOY RACER' was disqualified from driving for 12 months yesterday after racing at high speed along a road before crashing into another car.

Craig Stuart, of Newholme Crescent, Bishop Auckland, paid no regard to the double white line markings as he sped past an ambulance while racing a friend, South Durham Magistrates' Court heard.

Jacqueline Gibson, prosecuting, said that moments later, the 22-year-old's Vauxhall Calibra smashed into a car that had pulled out on to the A689 at Toronto.

She told Darlington magistrates that Stuart then lost control of his car and collided with the crash barrier, before rolling several times and ending up on its roof.

Miss Gibson said the driver of the ambulance, which had been responding to an emergency call, described Stuart as travelling at a tremendous speed. Laura Saunders-Jerrom, in mitigation, said Stuart had been challenged to a race by another driver and was travelling at excessive speed.

"He should never have taken up that gauntlet - he should have left it on the floor. He was very foolish. He could have injured himself or worse somebody else," she said.

She said the driver he was racing had fled the scene before the emergency services arrived.

"He has since moved away from the boy-racer scene," she said.

Stuart pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and failing to comply with a double white line. He was sentenced to a six month community rehabilitation punishment for each offence, to run concurrently, disqualified for 12 months and ordered to take an extended retest. He will also pay £70 costs.