A NOVICE driver was today jailed for five years for killing two of his friends in a crash.

Arseng Rashid lost control of his people carrier on a slip road to the A66 near Teesside Park in the early hours of September 11 last year.

Joshua Stevenson and Josh Hopkins, both 17, died at the scene, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Rashid, 18, of Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, admitted two charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

The court heard that the student, who was 17 at the time, had passed his driving test just ten weeks before the crash.

He had picked up a number of friends and driven around Thornaby, Yarm and Stockton at "outrageous" speed before the accident happened.