A BALLOCH teenager who drove at more than double the speed limit gave “cheek” to the driver he crashed into – even as a friend was trapped in his car.

Dominic Lynn had only got his licence days before – and was carrying three passengers when he ploughed into a van.

Firefighters had to cut the roof off Lynn’s car to free his friend.

The 19-year-old appeared for sentencing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on August 24.

Fiscal depute Claire O’Hagan told the court that Lynn, then aged 17, was driving a Renault Clio with three passengers on the A818 between Cross Keys and Helensburgh at 10.05am.

Another driver was in a Citroen Relay van and saw Lynn travelling at between 70 and 80mph in the 30mph zone near the Blackhill recycling facility.

Lynn, of McFarlane Road, then struck the kerb, causing his vehicle to hit the grass verge; he lost control, and then swerved from side to side and into the opposing carriageway, hitting the van and “damaging both beyond repair”.

Lynn got out of his car along with two passengers but one was trapped inside.

The van’s driver approached and asked what Lynn thought he was doing.

Lynn replied: “Mate, I wisnae doing 80, I was doing 70 slowing down from 80.”

The trapped passenger was eventually freed, put on a stretcher and taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for treatment, before being released with cuts and bruises.

At the time, it was reported the road was closed for about two hours while the vehicles were removed.

Lynn pleaded guilty in July to driving at grossly excessive speeds, failing to keep proper control of the vehicle where it struck a kerb, crossing the carriageway into the path of an oncoming vehicle and colliding with it, causing extensive damage, and injuring a passenger in each vehicle on March 5, 2020.

Lynn’s defence solicitor said his client was a full-time apprentice – and his employers were “far from happy” at his offending.

They have allowed him to keep his job but he was told to move closer to their base.

The lawyer said: “He had only passed his test a matter of days before.

"Clearly he was a very inexperienced driver and displayed considerable immaturity on this occasion.

“He accepts he posed a real risk to anyone who would have been there at the time.

“Things could have been far, far worse for him.

"It’s a matter he very much regrets. It’s been a real wake-up call.”

Sheriff Hugh McGinty told Lynn he was “quite fortunate”.

He said: “If anyone had been seriously hurt in this crash, the only question would have been how many years you were going to spend behind bars.

“I’m not impressed in the slightest.”

The sheriff said that having crashed into another vehicle, Lynn “decided to give [the other driver] some cheek while your friend was trapped within your vehicle”.

Lynn was banned from driving for two years and will have to sit an extended driving test to get a licence again.

Sheriff McGinty planned to impose a curfew on Lynn but couldn’t because of his work shifts.

He fined him £800 plus a £50 victim surcharge.