A motorist who tried to scare a group of youngsters but knocked down a 15-year-old girl by mistake was ordered to pay her £1,000 compensation yesterday.

Andrew Causier, 23, told police that he had been attacked earlier by a drunken group of youths outside a pizza shop in Acklam, Middlesbrough.

He was "savagely beaten" and when he returned to his car he lost his temper and decided to frighten them, said Paul Cleasby defending.

Causier reversed across Trimdon Avenue, Acklam, and mounted the pavement, hitting youngster Rachel Cockerill.

His silver Vauxhall Cavalier car was wrecked as it demolished a concrete road sign and he was then attacked by angry onlookers.

The girl escaped with cuts and bruises, although she lost consciousness for a time, said prosecutor Michael O'Neill. He told Teesside Crown Court: "This was a short but furious episode of driving which could have led to disastrous consequences but, happily, did not".

Mr Cleasby said that Causier was a man of impeccable character who had not been in trouble since the incident last February.

He said: "He utterly regrets the way he drove his car that night. He has been prepared to serve a custodial sentence."

Recorder Peter Isaacs told Causier: "One sees so many cases where people are left catastrophically injured by this sort of driving."

Causier, of Eskdale, Hemlington, was also ordered to do 160 hours community service, and disqualified for two years with £500 costs after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.