A teenage driver who smashed into a town centre shop in Tiverton has narrowly avoided being disqualified from driving.

Ben Hartry, 18, of Pugsley Road, Tiverton, was fined £200 and had five points put on his licence after he admitted driving without due care and attention at Exeter Magistrates Court last Tuesday, January 31.

He lost control of his Vauxhall Corsa in Bampton Street on January 16 – just four weeks after passing his test.

The court was told the inexperienced 18-year-old had mistaken the accelerator for the brake.

An ambulance was called and two people were treated at the scene of the crash for minor injuries, but no-one was seriously hurt.

Prosecutor Lyndsey Baker told the court the accident happened in the afternoon in busy Bampton Street when children were leaving school for the day.

She said Hartry, who had three passengers in his Vauxhall Corsa, was driving at about 30mph (48km/h) when it smashed into a parked Mercedes, before mounting the kerb and ploughing into the window of toy shop Johnny B’s.

“Luckily it missed everyone that was there before it smashed through the front window of the shop,” Miss Baker said.

“Eye-witnesses said the car would have killed anyone if it had hit them.”

Defence lawyer Vanessa Francis said her client had only been driving for four weeks.

She said he pressed his accelerator rather than his brake by mistake and lost control of the car.

The teenager, who had no previous convictions, was fined £100 and ordered to pay a £100 fine. He will be allowed to continue to drive. Under the New Drivers Act, motorists lose their licences if they reach six penalty points within the first two years of passing their test.

Johnny B’s is boarded up, but builders are set to come in at the end of the month to enable the shop to re-open by the beginning of March.