A TEENAGE motoring menace was yesterday sentenced to more than a year-and-a-half behind bars for a string of driving offences.

But a judge told Martin Wilson that he expects he will be back on the streets within nine months because jails are too full.

Wilson, 18, of Thomas Court, Darlington, was sent to a young offenders' institution for 18 months for aggravated vehicle taking - an offence committed three days after he was released from a previous sentence. He was also ordered to serve 74 days of an unexpired portion of the earlier sentence, which he was supposed to serve trouble-free on licence.

A four-month concurrent sentence was imposed for dangerous driving and a day each, concurrent, for having no insurance and driving while disqualified.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday how Wilson took a car to North Yorkshire and almost collided with a low-loader on the A168 near Topcliffe on February 11.

The vehicle was followed by police up the A1 where it veered on and off the hard shoulder at excessive speed before being stopped in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Judge Michael Taylor told Wilson: "This was a bad offence of dangerous driving.

"You present a great danger to the public every time you have itchy fingers.

"All I am trying to do is keep you out of the way of the public for a mere nine months.

"You will probably not serve a full sentence because prisons are overflowing and there's nothing I can do about it."