A TEENAGER has been sent to a young offenders’ institution for three years after repeatedly taking Stagecoach buses and driving them around the South Lakes.

Jamie Hoare, 18, took four buses – three double-deckers and a coach – in less than a year.

And at Carlisle Crown Court Judge Paul Batty QC told him: “The consequences of what you did could have been carnage. This was absolutely appalling offending.”

The court heard that Hoare, of High Lea Walk, Barrow, first appeared in court last year after he was twice found driving buses he had taken without permission.

On December 5 last year police had to stop him by using a Stinger device to deflate his tyres after he was seen driving a double-decker through Kendal and on to Ulverston.

Two days later he took another double-decker and drove it from Barrow to Carlisle – a journey that included a long spell on the M6.

Magistrates sentenced him to ten months’ detention for those offences – a punishment Judge Batty said was “remarkably lenient”.

Hoare was back in court last week after being arrested for taking two more buses.

Prosecutor Callum Cowx told the court Hoare had been arrested on August 3 after a double-decker taken from the Barrow depot was found in the Asda car park on Walney Island.

Hoare denied being involved – until fibres from the driver’s seat of the bus were found on his trousers.

Three days later, Mr Cowx said, Hoare took a single-decker from Stagecoach’s Lancaster depot, and drove it to Barrow, where police started chasing it.

Hoare was doing 50mph in a built-up area with a 30mph limit, demolishing road signs as he drove over a traffic island, narrowly missing other vehicles and causing other drivers to swerve out of his way as he “careered” along the A590 and through Ulverston.

Police used two Stingers as they tried to stop him, but they had no effect because the bus’s tyres were so thick.

It was only when they used a third Stinger near Hincaster that they managed to stop him, Mr Cowx said.

Hoare pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, taking a bus without consent, two charges of driving while disqualified, two of having no insurance and one of driving with excess alcohol.

Defence advocate Duncan Nightingale said Hoare committed the offences because of a “turbulent” relationship with his girlfriend.

“He becomes depressed and turns to drink – and in drink he commits these offences,” he said. “He needs to be incarcerated in order for the risk he poses to be fully removed.”

Hoare was banned from driving for three years.