A TEENAGER who led police on a chase through residential streets before jumping from his moving van was spared jail.

Robert Lainton drove on the wrong side of the road, passed a car on the inside and jumped a red light in the stolen vehicle.

The 18-year-old fled from the scene after leaping from the van, but was arrested nearby, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Lainton, of Chertsey Avenue, Middlesbrough, was given a six-month suspended sentence with 18 months of supervision.

Recorder Tony Hawks also banned the teenager from driving for 12 months and told him to go on a Thinking Skills course.

The judge told him: “It was a disgraceful piece of driving. You were weaving in and out of traffic and at excessive speed.”

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh told the court that the van was stolen during a raid in the Portrack area of Stockton in early June.

More than a week later, police saw it and followed it onto the A66 towards Middlesbrough and Lainton refused to stop.

After the teeanger leapt from the moving vehicle, it smashed into bollards, Mrs Haigh told Mr Recorder Hawks.

Lainton admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop and driving without a licence or insurance.

His barrister, Nigel Soppitt, said he pannicked and fled because he should not have been behind the wheel and had been paid £50 to drive it.