A TEENAGE troublemaker involved in a police car chase which injured a pedestrian has been spared custody.

The 16-year-old from Penge, who was just 15 at the time, drove a stolen black Citroen through several junctions in Bromley and Beckenham, ignoring give way signs, in an effort to evade police.

The underage driver, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lost control of the car and almost collided with oncoming traffic.

One of the police cars involved in the chase on January 7 was in collision with 64-year-old Janet Wilson, in Burnt Ash Lane, Bromley.

The retired teacher was in hospital for a week with a broken leg and injuries to her face.

Police finally caught up with the car when it spun out of control in Downs Hill, Beckenham.

Officers smashed the driver’s and passenger’s windows with their batons to arrest the driver and his 16-year-old passenger, a boy from Downham.

Both boys were part of a gang of youths who harrassed a gay couple in Marks & Spencer, High Street, Beckenham, last year.

The Citroen was stolen last year from Carcraft at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex.

The driver was found guilty of aggravated vehicle taking and using a motor vehicle without insurance after a trial at Bromley Youth Court.

He was sentenced on April 1 to a 12-month supervision order and ordered to take an extended driving test before being eligible for a driving licence.

He was also sentenced to 24 hours at an attendance centre for using threatening words and behaviour in Crown Lane, Bromley, criminal damage to a bus window and two counts of failing to attend a youth offender panel.

The passenger was sentenced to a night-time curfew for three months at Inner London Youth Court, Camberwell, in February, after admitting allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle.

The police collision is still under investigation.