A TEENAGE driver from Bromsgrove who put lives at risk as he hit speeds of more than 130mph in a two-car "race" on the M5 motorway has been sent into custody.

Newlywed Barrie Birch swerved from lane to lane undertaking and overtaking other vehicles and sped along the hard shoulder in a car with a flat tyre as he was followed by police over five-and-a-half miles, Worcester Crown Court was told.

When he was stopped and questioned about his dangerous driving, he said "you're only young once," Michael Aspinall, prosecuting, told the court. When they noticed a rear tyre was flat he said he knew it had a puncture.

Mr Aspinall said the pursuit started when police in an unmarked car on the southbound slip road at junction seven of the M5 saw two high-powered Mercedes cars, one red and one white, pass at high speed at 9.40pm on Sunday, September 13 last year.

Their first thought was that the cars were stolen and the drivers were escaping, and they set out to follow. Birch was driving the white car and carried on after the red car pulled up when police put on their lights and sirens.

A DVD taken from the inboard camera showed the police car touching 140mph as it tried to keep up with Birch as he swerved from lane to lane until he eventually pulled up. His average speed had been 109mph, Mr Aspinall said. The safe speed for driving with a flat tyre would have been no higher than 50mph.

Birch, of Worcester Road, Bromsgrove, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

The court heard Birch, who had passed his test in October, 2013, knew the other driver but Heather Grew, defending, said the race had not been planned in advance.

She said Birch had got married in March and he and his wife had now had to go and live with his father as a driving ban had affected the roofing business he ran as a sole trader.

Recorder William Edis, QC, said police had been "shocked and concerned" and one of the officers said it was the worst driving he had ever seen.

"It is a matter of luck and not your skill as a driver that no-one was badly hurt or killed," he told Birch.

A blow-out at 130mph or crashing into a broken down car on the hard shoulder could have resulted in people being killed, he said.

"You had no concern either for yourself or anyone else you might have crashed into at high speed in the dark," he told Birch.

He was given an immediate sentence of eight months in a young offenders institution and banned from driving for two years. His licence was endorsed and he will have to pass an extended driving test.