A construction worker who was a passenger in a stolen lorry involved in a police chase has appeared in court.

Jack Stoner, 21, was in the 12-ton vehicle as it was smashed through gates at Kent Wool Growers in Tannery Lane in Ashford last September.

The Iveco LVG then hit two parked vehicles, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

It was spotted by police in Chart Road at the junction with Godinton Road and ordered to stop.

Officers used a stinger at Drovers roundabout - puncturing one tyre - but the lorry continued towards Eureka Park.

It headed back to the town centre along Canterbury Road in Kennington and went into the High Street, driving the wrong way up a one-way street.

It continued to Stanhope and went the wrong way around a roundabout before coming to a halt in Bucksford Lane, Singleton, at 12.30am on September 19 last year.

Prosecutor Eleanor Scott-Davies described the driving as "erratic and dangerous".

Stoner, of Berridge Road, Sheerness, told officers he had been drinking vodka since lunchtime.

He admitted allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle and was given a 12-month community order and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Catherine Brown was told that since the incident a year ago, Stoner had changed his life and was now working hard.

She told him: “Because of that I am prepared to give you a chance.”

At the time of the incident, up to seven police cars were said to be seen chasing the lorry with lights and sirens blaring.

Staff at the Royal Mail sorting office next to Kent Wool Growers alerted police, with workers say it sounded like a bomb had gone off when the lorry hit the gates.

A teenager is to go on trial accused of driving the lorry dangerously.