A CAR crashed into two other vehicles within minutes of being taken from outside the owner's home.

The Ford Fiesta caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to a nearly-new Nissan Almera, which was parked nearby, and soon after, collided head-on with a Renault Clio.

Durham Crown Court heard the Clio, travelling uphill from Castleside, near Consett, was sent spinning, and was written off as a result of the impact damage.

The Clio driver, a 25-year-old man from Waterhouses, near Durham, suffered a shoulder injury and whiplash, for which he is still undergoing physiotherapy.

But he was able to walk from the wreckage and saw two youths, who emerged from the Fiesta, flee beforepolice arrived.

Rachel Hedworth, prosecuting, said Christopher Joseph Divers was earlier seen getting into the Fiesta with another youth near the owner's home, in Surrey Crescent, Moorside, Consett, on the evening of December 18 last year.

The Clio driver later selected Divers from a video identity parade.

Divers, 21, of Deneburn Terrace, The Grove, Consett, was arrested but told police that the witness was mistaken.

He denied aggravated vehicle taking, claiming that a 19-year-old accomplice was actually at the wheel when the Fiesta was taken.

But after a trial opened yesterday, Divers agreed to plead guilty to allowing himself to be carried in a vehicle taken in an aggravated manner.

The jury then returned a formal not guilty verdict on the original charge, on the direction of Recorder Ian Atherton.

Brian Russell, mitigating, said Divers accepts he was one of two people responsible for the damage.

He said Divers, who recently started full-time work as a paver, had no previous motoring offending on his record.

Recorder Atherton said taking the Fiesta appeared "an impetuous thing to do", with resulting damage affecting the owners of three cars.

He ordered Divers to perform 150 hours community punishment work and pay compensation totalling £3,000 to the three car owners.