SHOCKING footage showing a teenager clinging onto a car bonnet as his drink-driving friend drove at 50mph has been released.

The stunt in a red Volkswagen Polo involving Oliver Barton and driver Lucas Blanchard was filmed by back-seat passenger Conor Fleming.

Earlier on in the evening Fleming filmed the driver of a blue Polo, Joseph James Clayton, as he sat with half his body hanging out the window as the car sped along the roads of Rossendale. At one point Fleming even had to take the wheel because both of Clayton’s hands were outside the vehicle.

The video was later uploaded into a four minute Snapchat story, which featured a series of clips detailing the night out of the men. 

Burnley Crown Court heard an eyewitness reported seeing Blanchard’s Polo being driven in convoy with Clayton’s Polo.

The red Polo later crashed into a roundabout on Bocholt Way having come from Bacup Road, Rawtenstall, but neither Blanchard, Fleming or Barton were seriously injured. The crash was not included in the Snapchat story.

Judge Simon Medland QC said he would never understand how nobody was injured as a result of the defendants’ actions, which he described as ‘dangerous almost beyond belief’’.

Prosecuting, Stephen Parker said police had been called to the one-vehicle crash at the Bocholt Way roundabout at 12.15am o January 24.

The court heard the red Polo had gone onto the wrong side of the road, mounted the kerb and hit a lamppost before coming to a stop.

Mr Parker said: “There were no witnesses to the accident prepared to provide statements. But the police were approached by a witness who refused to provide his details but said he had seen what he perceived to be torch lights on in that vehicle and in relation to another vehicle which he thought was travelling in convoy with it. He likened it to torches or people using their mobile phones within the vehicles.”

Blanchard was breathalysed at the scene and was found to be just over twice the legal drink-drive limit.

Police seized the defendants’ mobile phones and came across the Snapchat story, which features footage from the main cameraman, Flemming.

Mr Parker said: “That shows not the whole conduct of the defendants that evening, but it is apparent that the filming of these defendants recovered are mere snapshots of their behaviour.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Oliver Barton on the bonnet 

 “There was no footage of the actually crash but there are effectively extracts of windows in time of their offending.

“They had been in various pubs. There were photographs and films of pints of lager on the table.

“The first part of the video relates to conduct in the blue Polo. It shows Clayton get from the driver’s seat and perch himself half out of the vehicle, sitting on top of the driver’s door, hanging out of the car. At the same time Fleming is both filming the conduct and also taking hold of the steering wheel of the blue car because the co-defendant doesn’t have his hands on the wheel. They are both out of the car.”

Mr Parker said the video then switches to clips of action from the red Polo.

He said: “Oliver Barton is at times a front seat passenger and at times a passenger on the bonnet of the vehicle as it is driven at speed through the Rossendale Valley. The temperature is freezing and there is snow on the road. While he is on the bonnet they reach a speed of 50mph.

“It is driven at speed throughout the Rossendale Valley in the early hours of the morning with the temperature at or about freezing and with snow on the ground.

“When Barton is on the bonnet they reach speeds of approximately 50mph. When he is back inside the vehicle there are points when it is 60mph and points when it goes beyond well over 60mph.”

Lancashire Telegraph:

 Joseph James Clayton hanging out of the window

Blanchard, 19, of Roundhill Lane, Haslingden, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol; Fleming, 20, of Crabtree Buildings, Whitewell Bottom, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and using a handheld mobile phone while driving; and Clayton, 19, of Schofield Street, Waterfoot,  pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

Giving Clayton, Blanchard and Fleming curfews that expire on January 2, Judge Medland told them they would be having a ‘quiet Christmas’.

He added: "Your conduct was utterly disgraceful on that night and dangerous almost beyond belief.

“How you didn't seriously injure somebody I will never understand.

“Further, you thought it right and amusing to make that part of a Snapchat story, all accompanied by sparkling pictures of pints of lager.

“You obviously thought it was a right laugh.

“I trust as you sit in the Crown Court now as convicted criminals, I hope that you understand how far wrong you are.”

Blanchard was also given a 12-month community order, 200 hours unpaid work and banned from driving for 18 months; Fleming was given a 12-month community order, 150 hours unpaid work and banned from driving for 15 months; while Clayton was given a 12-month community order, 200 hours unpaid work and banned from driving for 15 months.

Barton, 19, of Pleasant View, Waterfoot, pleaded guilty at Burnley Magistrates Court earlier this year to getting onto a motor vehicle in motion on a road. He was fined £100, ordered to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.