A JUDGE has described an unqualified driver who drove his father’s car so badly that another motorist had no choice but to crash into him as 'breathtakingly arrogant'.

Joseph Paul Martin Duparcq, 18, of Bargates, Box appeared before District Judge Simon Cooper at Swindon Magistrates Court when he pleaded guilty to failing to stop after an accident, failing to report the accident, driving without due care and attention and driving without a licence.

Prosecutor Kate Prince told the court last Wednesday (jun20) that at 1.45pm on January 26 a woman motorist was driving on the A350 at Trowbridge when she was overtaken by an Audi A5 Coupe on the busy road.

After overtaking her the Audi stopped unexpectedly and she crashed into the back of it.

Duparcq, who was driving the Audi, got out, looked at the damage then got back in and drove off. A witness confirmed the woman driver’s account.

The woman was taken to hospital, and still suffers pain and discomfort around her collarbone and is taking painkillers.

Mrs Prince said Duparcq made no comment when interviewed by the police but had since pleaded guilty to the offences. The Audi belonged to his father, she said.

Mark Glendenning, defending, said Duparcq had taken his dad’s car, an automatic with a sport mode gear box.

He was inexperienced at driving it and after the overtaking manouevre he had tried to put it into sport mode, failed and the car stopped.

He did not report the accident because he had taken his father’s car when he was not permitted to drive, Mr Glendenning said.

The judge told Duparcq: “You have been breathtaking in your arrogance in this matter.

“That you didn’t stop to sort it out is extraordinary, and for some reason you chose to drive away. The people on that road were pretty horrified by your behaviour.”

For failing to stop and failing to report Duparcq was sentenced to a 12-month community order to complete 100 hours of unpaid work. He was disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £85.

There were no separate penalties for driving without due care and without a licence.