ROOFER Darryl Woodhouse had ignored two warnings about the speed and manner of his driving before entering a market town at 75mph, overturning his sporty hatchback and leaving two of his passengers lying injured in the road, a court heard.

Prosecutor Michael Hammond told Harrogate magistrates yesterday how Woodhouse, 19, ignored pleas from friends he had driven on a night out to York to slow down on the return journey.

Then his Vauxhall Nova SRI smashed into a telephone cable box, spun through 360 degrees and turned on to its roof as it entered Boroughbridge.

Back seat passengers Jamie Preece and Hayley McMillan - who, like Woodhouse, were not wearing seat belts - were thrown from the car and although Miss McMillan escaped with minor injuries, Mr Preece's head injuries and collapsed lungs threatened his life for some time.

Woodhouse, of Springwell Farm, Kirk Hammerton, near York, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and being almost one-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit after telling police he had six pints of lager before the journey to York.

Mr Hammond said a police officer had seen Woodhouse enter a car park at Boroughbridge and warned him about the speed and dangerous manner of his driving.

Then on the way to York the car had turned a full circle at a roundabout, but when the party left the city in the early hours of November 9, Woodhouse, it seemed, had not learned any lessons.

Miss McMillan had seen the speedometer touch 75mph on the return trip and the car had entered the 30mph zone at Boroughbridge at 70mph in spite of Woodhouse being asked to slow down.

It hit the cable box and flipped on to its roof with Woodhouse later denying he had been drunk.

''It might have been in my blood but I can remember everything I did that night,'' he told police.

Mr Hammond said Miss McMillan had spoken of her worries as the car made the return journey, notably on the B6265 between Green Hammerton and Boroughbridge. ''He was driving fast so we were banging our heads on the roof and one of us told him to slow down. He did at first but speeded up again as we came into town. I felt we were going too fast and braced myself. We went round a right hand bend, spun and ended upside down and I remember being laid in the road.''

Presiding magistrate David Gravells said the many aggravating features of the case made the court's sentencing powers - six months' custody at maximum - inadequate.

Woodhouse was bailed to appear for sentence at Leeds Crown Court on July 8 and banned from driving in the meantime.

Updated: 10:15 Tuesday, June 03, 2003