A driver has relived the night he had his car hijacked by three men and was forced to take them on a terrifying 20-minute drive.

Adam Close told a jury that he feared for his safety after the revellers ordered him to drive them from a popular North-East night spot as he waited to pick up his girlfriend.

Mr Close was giving evidence on the first day of the trial of Darren Smith, who is accused of false imprisonment and robbery.

Mr Smith, 34, of Belle Vue Grove, Middlesbrough, denies holding Mr Close against his will and robbing him of his V-reg Seat Ibiza in the early hours of March 20 last year.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that Mr Close had travelled from his home in Coxhoe, County Durham, to the Tall Trees in Yarm, near Stockton, to pick up his girlfriend and two of her friends.

But he said as he waited for them to come from the nightclub, three men got into his car and ordered him to drive them to Middlesbrough.

Mr Close, 23, was shaking and emotional when he started to recall the incident, and told the jury: "I felt intimidated - scared."

The court heard how two rear seat passengers talked of beating him up, and that a man in the front seat headbutted him after he refused to drive down a dark farm track.

Mr Close said: "I didn't do it because it was an almost certain thing that something would have happened that was worse than what did. I was really, really scared.

"I was trying to keep control of my vehicle and I was looking for a tree or a brick wall or something to drive into."

Mr Close said his ordeal finally came to an end after he stopped in nearby Maltby and ran from the car - but only after he had been punched and had his mobile phone stolen so he could not raise the alarm.

He raised the alarm by banging on doors in the village and pleading with a householder to call the police.

Prosecutor Christine Egerton said Mr Smith was picked out in an identification procedure some months later as the front seat passenger and linked to the crime by blood found on Mr Close's jeans.

Mr Close denied defence suggestions he had picked the wrong man even though part of the description he gave to police - that the man who headbutted him had scars on his face - does not fit Mr Smith.

The case continues.