A YOUNG motorist who ignored police warnings for him to stop after colliding with a taxi has been sentenced to a 200-hour community order and banned from driving for 18 months.

John Blythyn, who admitted dangerous driving and being over the drink-drive limit, appeared for sentence at Durham Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard that Blythyn, 20, of Windsor Terrace, Haswell, had gone to pick up friends from North Road, in Durham City, in the early hours of September 18 last year.

Blythyn had hit a taxi while driving down the road and had driven off despite attempts by a police officer to stop him.

He had then driven the wrong way around the Milburngate Roundabout before travelling east on the A690.

But he had gone less than half a mile when he was stopped by a police patrol car in the city's Leazes Road.

The court heard that Blythyn was of previous good character and had not intended to drive on the evening but had been drinking at home when his friends called him and asked for a lift.

Judge John Walford, who reminded Blythyn of how close he had come to going to prison, imposed a community order with a supervision requirement on the young driver, working in the community for 200 hours.

He was also disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay £200 costs.