A newly-QUALIFIED driver left his friend for dead after losing control of his car and crashing it through a fence.

Wayne Thorpe had his driving licence just three months when he took a bend in Cleadon, South Tyneside, too quickly, leaving passenger Gareth Seaman with head injuries.

Mr Seaman was in a coma for three months.

Thorpe, 21, of Belloc Avenue, South Shields, South Tyneside, panicked and fled the scene, leaving Seaman in the passenger seat of his Renault Clio, in July last year.

Now he has been spared jail and ordered to do 200 hours community service instead.

Mitigating, Carolie Goodwin said: "He has caused injury to his close friend and is now suffering for that."

Thorpe admitted careless driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident. He was banned from driving for two years.