A WINSFORD teenager has been disqualified from driving after two of his friends died when he lost control of his car on a bend.

David James Atkinson, 19, of Woodford Lane, admitted driving without due care and attention at Northwich Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Mairead Neeson, prosecuting, told the court how Matthew Whittle, 18, of Denton Close, Winsford, and Chloe Kozyra, 16, of Over Peover, died when Atkinson's Mini Mayfair left the A533 Bostock Road on March 19 this year.

A third friend was seriously injured but has recovered. Miss Neeson said the group had been at a party in Goostrey and Atkinson, an apprentice mechanic, was driving four of his friends home when the accident happened.

She said there was no suggestion that he had been drinking and he had been driving within the speed limit but said the rear tyres on his car were wider than those at the front.

Derek MacDonald, defending, said Atkinson's friends trusted him 100 per cent and they had asked him to take them home.

He said the warning sign at the bend had been turned around the wrong way and this had not been corrected until some time after the incident.

He said: "There was no indication to tell him that there was a bend.

"He's not someone who was racing down the road and there were no illegal substances in his body. He's trying to live with this. It's something that he's got to live with for the rest of his life."

He said the families of the victims did not bear any malice towards him and he would need his driving licence to get a job as a mechanic.

Chairman of the bench Robert Tomlinson agreed that the road sign had been a major contributor to the accident and told Atkinson: "You will have to live with this for the rest of your life."

Atkinson was fined £200 and was disqualified from driving for six months.