A 21-year-old motorist who crashed his car after driving over a roundabout and hitting a lamppost was told by Truro magistrates’ chairman Fiona Roberts: “You could have killed your passenger.”

His girlfriend Kirsty, who was with him, was said to have broken her back in the collision.

David James Spooner, of Sunrise Creek, Ruan Minor, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at Treleigh Roundabout, Redruth on March 15.

Alison May, for the CPS, said the car had approached the roundabout at an excessive speed, put at up to 100mph by a car he overtook, before driving straight across it and hitting a lamppost.

The car was a write-off and the passenger, his girlfriend, was said to have broken her back.

She was in hospital for two weeks afterwards and then given three months bed rest, having been told she would have a curved spine for the rest of her life, but no long-term effects.

Spooner, a mechanic, with no previous convictions, told the magistrates what had happened had totally changed his driving style. He said he had panicked when he thought the brakes did not respond.

The pair were still together.

Spooner was fined £150 and £80 costs and surcharge and given nine points on his licence.