A TEENAGER who caused £2,300 of damage by demolishing a garden wall and then walked off has been banned from driving for six months.

Samuel Joseph Spence, 19, didn't have a driving licence, but took a passenger with him on the journey that ended with him crashing into the front of a property on Dikelands Lane, Nether Poppleton, Kathryn Reeve, prosecuting, told York magistrates.

People inside the house heard a loud bang at 10.50pm on February 21, and when they looked out saw Spence and a woman walking off, leaving a VW Golf in the ruins of the garden wall.

Police stopped a taxi with the pair inside on Millfield Lane between Acomb and the Poppletons and arrested him.

"You haven't passed your test, you haven't got the skills and it shows in the manner of your driving," magistrates told him. "Keep away from cars for six months and then learn to drive properly at a driving school."

Spencer, of Langholme Drive, off Boroughbridge Road, Acomb, pleaded guilty to failure to stop after an accident, driving without a licence, and driving without insurance.

In addition to the six-month driving ban, he was given a 12-month community order with 100 hours' unpaid work, and was ordered to pay £150 compensation to the property owners, £85 prosecution costs and an £85 statutory surcharge.

Ms Reeve said the owners' insurers had paid to repair the wall, but they had had to pay a £150 excess.

For Spence, Adam Henry said: "He is a responsible adult."

He had a full-time job, and spent the majority of his time outside work with his 85-year-old grandmother. He also spent time with his mother, who lives outside York, and who has mobility problems.

He didn't own the car which he had driven and was remorseful.