A TEENAGER did not realise the car she was given a lift in was stolen until after it had crashed into a fence and the driver confessed.

Blackburn magistrates heard Lisa Holt then got back into the car with three males as it was driven in a reckless manner from Saccary Lane in Mellor until it was abandoned outside the Bull's Head in Wilpshire.

Holt, 18, of Glenfield Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to being carried in a vehicle taken without consent.

She was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £55 costs.

Wendy Chappell, prosecuting, said witnesses had followed the vehicle after the crash and described it as being driven in a "reckless and dangerous" way.

Jonathon Taylor, defending, said Holt had only met the driver the night before as a friend of a friend.

He had offered her a lift as she left home and she had accepted without any thought of the car being stolen.

When she found out it was stolen she panicked and foolishly got back into the car and got away from the scene.