Last updated 17:45, Thursday, 08 January 2009

A TEENAGER took two double decker buses in two days and went on a 60-mile joyride all the way from Barrow to Penrith because he wanted to visit his girlfriend in Scotland.

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After making the 60-mile trip, the 17-year-old then went into a petrol station for cigarettes and asked staff to put it “on the Stagecoach account”.

Police eventually caught up with the Barrow teenager as he drove the bus along the M6 to see his girlfriend in Scotland.

He stopped near junction 42 and was found to be almost twice over the drink drive limit.

Magistrates sent him to a detention centre for 12 months and banned him from driving for two years.

The bus was the second he had taken from the Stagecoach depot on Walney Road, Barrow, in the space of 48 hours.

The teenager took the first bus on December 5, after drinking up to 10 cans and five pints of lager.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, then sparked a police chase after driving to Kendal.

On Friday at Barrow Youth Court, Mr John Appleby, prosecuting, said: “A friend who had been with him reported it to the police after it became apparent to her that he had taken the bus.

“At 11.50pm, two police officers on patrol in Kendal saw the bus being driven through the town centre, it skidded and mounted the pavement.”

Police laid a stinger trap on the A590 near Arrad Foot as the bus drove back to Barrow.

But the obstruction failed to stop the 14-ton vehicle.

Mr Appleby said: “He drove the wrong way round a roundabout and came to a stop near Dalton having crashed through a fence.”

The youth was arrested at the bottom of St Helen’s Hill.

He provided a positive breath test of 37 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, just over the legal limit.

Just 12 hours after being released, the teenager went back to the Stagecoach depot, having drunk more than 20 alcoholic drinks, and took another double decker.

Mr Appleby said: “On December 7, police received a phone call from a man employed at Little Chef in Penrith, who had seen a bus being driven by someone who was very young.

“Two vehicles had been damaged in the car park and the defendant went inside the petrol station and asked for 40 Lambert and Butler cigarettes and said to put them on the Stagecoach account.”

In a bid to reach his girlfriend who was heavily pregnant with his child, the youth then took the bus onto the M6, where police followed him for several miles.

Mr Appleby said: “He eventually stopped near junction 42 and when he was arrested the level of alcohol was 62 microgrammes, almost twice over the limit.”

Ms Maureen Fawcett, defending, explained that her client had been suicidal at the time.

Ms Fawcett said: “He is a very, very young 17-year-old and a foolish one, he said he took the first bus to commit suicide.”

Apologising to the court, the teenager said: “Any punishment I get, I deserve and I’m willing to do that without argument.”

The youth admitted two counts of aggravated vehicle taking without consent, and charges of attempted deception, failing to stop, dangerous driving, drink driving and driving without a licence or insurance.

Magistrates sent him to a detention centre for 12 months and banned him from driving for two years. After the court case, William McPhail, head of operations at Stagecoach in Barrow, said: “The police were happy with the security of the vehicles.

“I’m happy in the sense that the courts have recognised how serious these offences were and hopefully he’ll get himself sorted.

“The main thing is that nobody was injured, including the lad himself.”