A reckless teenager has escaped a jail sentence after she drove around with two friends clinging to her bonnet - and filmed it on her phone.

Careless Katie Bough, 19, has been banned from driving for 15 months for the dangerous stunt which could have killed her friends.

The teen, aged 18 at the time of the offence, sped through Gateshead’s Team Valley Trading Estate with two people on the front of her Ford Fiesta on April 8, shortly after passing her test.

She admitted dangerous driving and driving with a mobile phone when she appeared before Gateshead Magistrates last month.

At the court hearing in April, Andrew Waters, prosecuting, said: “It was incredibly lucky that nobody was hurt or even worse.

“An operator of CCTV on the Team Valley reported seeing a vehicle being driven with two females clinging on to the bonnet of the car while it was travelling at a reasonable speed.

“A witness said he observed the driver filming while driving with the mobile phone.”

Footage shows the two girls lying side by side clinging onto the bonnet of the car as the car driven by Bough pulls out of a junction.

Mr Waters said it was impossible to tell how fast the car was going, but it was estimated it could have been at speeds between 15mph and 20mph.

He added: “Two young girls were on a car being driven at 20mph.

"There was a very obvious risk of danger to the passengers.”

Bough, of Chowdene Bank, Low Fell, Gateshead was arrested and charged.

Today (THURS) at Gateshead Magistrates' Court she was given a six week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, a 12-month supervision order, banned from driving for 15 months and ordered to pay £80 costs by Gateshead Magistrates after admitting driving dangerously and while using a mobile phone.

Speaking at the court hearing in April, John Donkin, defending, told how Brough had only recently passed her driving test and had never been in trouble before.

But he said that while his client knew what she did was dangerous and stupid, she was acting under peer pressure from the other girls.

At a previous hearing he said: “My client is somebody who is easily led.

“While she accepts it was dangerous and stupid, her view of the speed the car was travelling is not that of it being 20mph.

“I’m told it was a relatively short distance.

"My client hasn’t ever been in trouble before. It wasn’t a built-up area.

"We are talking about 11pm on the Team Valley Trading Estate, it’s almost dead.”

The chairwoman of the bench had warned her that the case was so serious it could still be sent to Newcastle Crown Court, and Bough could face jail.

Speaking after the case, Operations Command Chief Inspector Sarah Pitt of Northumbria Police, said: "This woman's actions are completely unacceptable.

Those involved are lucky there were no serious injuries.

"Behaviour like this will not be tolerated and anyone who may think otherwise will be caught and face the consequences of their actions.

"This woman now has a criminal record which will inevitably affect her life which she may well regret for a long time.

Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson, head of Gateshead Area Command said: "This is not the sort of behaviour we want to see in Gateshead and I hope this shows how serious an offence this is.

"Something that seems like a bit of fun at the time could go horribly wrong.

This case could have had a very different and life-changing outcome if someone had been seriously injured.

"I want to reassure people our officers are working with other agencies to crackdown on dangerous driving, particularly in and around the Team Valley area, and are taking action to tackle all kinds of anti-social behaviour."