A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD boy who took his mother's car and then crashed it appeared in court yesterday.

The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to driving without a licence and without insurance on February 27 at Darlington Youth Court yesterday. Charges of taking a vehicle without consent were dropped at the request of his mother.

The boy, from Darlington, took the Ford Fiesta while his mother was out, but lost control of it and crashed into the back of a Peugeot 306.

James Thomas, prosecuting, said: "The defendant told officers at the scene that it was his mother's car and that it had been stolen, but after further inquiries the defendant admitted taking the car and crashing it.

"It is an unfortunate situation, because the defendant is of previous good character."

In mitigation, Stephen Andrews said that the boy had one of his friends round on the night in question.

"He decided to take the car because he was showing off in front of this friend. The weather wasn't particularly good and he lost control of the vehicle and there was a minor road traffic accident."

Mr Andrews said that the incident had cost his mother a lot of money, as her car was written off, she paid to repair the other vehicle and her insurance premium increased.

"This whole process has had an impact on this boy and I would say it is extremely unlikely that you will see him before the court again," he said.

Magistrate John Welsh gave the boy a three-month referral order and said: "You had an accident, a slight accident, and you never thought how much more serious it could have been. You need to be more responsible."