A young motorist who caused a large area near the Stonebridge Estate to be sealed off after a gas scare was ordered to pay £540 by Frome magistrates last week, but was not banned from driving.

Oliver Wade, 19, of Linnet Way, Frome, admitted driving without due care and attention and without insurance after an accident that left a gas sub-station totally demolished.

Witnesses said he had been driving his Subaru Impreza at speed along Clink Road on Friday, October 9, when he overtook a friend's Citroen Saxo.

Crown prosecutor Lesley Ness said his car had clipped the front of the Saxo, which had ricocheted off into the gas sub-station. The Subaru had spun out of control and crashed through a garden wall.

The area near the incident, at the junction of Clink Road and Brunel Way, was sealed off by police because of the possible risk of a gas leak.

Solicitor John Killah, representing Wade, said it had been the first and only time that he had driven the car, which he had saved to buy.

"He was persuaded by others to go out on the road and see what it was like to drive," said Mr Killah.

"He is devastated by what happened and realises someone could have been injured or killed."

He said Wade now realised that what had happened was utterly wrong, and that he should make his own judgments and not be swayed by others.

Wade, who lives with his mother and two sisters, was fined £120 for the two charges of driving without due care and attention, and without insurance. He had nine penalty points added to his licence and was ordered to pay £250 compensation to the owner of the garden wall that had been demolished in the crash.

He was also ordered to pay £35 in court costs, and a £15 victim surcharge.