A TEENAGE driver who had twice failed his driving test took his Audi out for a spin and caused a serious crash.

Owen Coupland was due to take his third practical test within four weeks when he decided to use his car to take some friends home from his house.

But during that journey from his West Bergholt home to Colchester, the 18-year-old provisional driver mistakenly ran a red light and smashed into an oncoming car attempting to turn right from the Northern Approach Road into Turner Road.

The crash caused his car to flip and land on its roof while the driver of the oncoming Fiat Punto sustained a broken leg and a broken arm.

Although there is no suggestion Coupland had been drinking, he later refused to provide a blood sample for testing.

The Army hopeful, who passed his driving theory test on his 17th birthday, admitted driving without due care and attention, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, driving without insurance, MOT and otherwise in accordance with his licence on November 15.

Lesley Chipps, prosecuting, said: “There were passengers in the vehicle and it is at this particular point on the Northern Approach Road he contravened a red light.

“His car then collided with another car turning right.”

Mrs Chipps added: “While in hospital, police were given permission to request a specimen of blood and it is at that point there was a refusal to provide a specimen.”

Julie Brice, mitigating, said Coupland genuinely believed the traffic light was amber when he went through it.

She added: “He also had a vehicle very close behind him which meant if he had stopped he would then have that person going into his back.

“But he accepts the weight of evidence against him and he accepts he was in the wrong.”

Mrs Brice also said there was a problem with documentation of the driver of the Fiat Punto but no evidence was submitted to the court on that matter.

She also said his refusal to provide a specimen was a “genuine mistake” as he had previously offered to provide a breathalyser sample but officers were not in a position to take it.

Mrs Brice also pointed to morphine being used to treat Coupland’s pain at the time.

The ground worker, of Mumford Road, West Bergholt, was disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.