A TEENAGE driver has been jailed for 18 months after driving dangerously through a busy estate ­— narrowly missing children playing football.

Bolton Crown Court heard how on April 25 this year 19-year-old Mesaadi Saaed, of Slater Street, Bolton, was spotted by police officers driving a BMW down Blenheim Road, Breightmet, before turning into St Osmund’s Drive at a dangerously high speed.

Alison Mather, prosecuting, said: "He turned into a blind corner at some speed and if there had been pedestrians or other cars the car would not have been able to see them in time."

One witness said he then started travelling at a “ridiculous” speed down St Osmund’s Grove, where there were children playing football on the street.

The resident said Saaed “only just avoided a collision with the children” before abandoning the vehicle and trying to run off.

Officers caught Saaed nearby and found he was a bannned driver. Saaed claimed he wasn’t the one driving the car.

Defending Saaed, Adam White, said he was “facing an uphill struggle” keeping him out of custody due to the fact he was already serving a suspended sentence for dangerous driving when he committed this offence.

Saaed was given a nine-month suspended term on February 9 for dangerous driving offences in May 2020.

Mr White said Saaed had some “very difficult” personal circumstances regarding his family in recent times and that he had been engaging well with rehabilitation programmes so far during the suspended sentence.

Mr White added that Saaed had recently been offered full time employment, which would be completely jeopardised by a jail time.

Passing sentence, Judge Martin Walsh, on Saeed's driving, said: “It could quite simply have been catastrophic."

The judge also banned Saeed from driving for three years, and said it was a "flagrant breach" of his suspended term.