Asif Bilal's mates were egging him on to do it and in the end he couldn't resist. He grabbed the keys to his dad's new Proton, they all piled in and went off for a spin.
He had no licence. No insurance. And at just 14, Asif was three years below the legal driving age.
They tore down the street and almost crashed head on into another car coming towards them. The other driver slammed his brakes on and the lads started shouting abuse at him while Asif raked the vehicle around and drove off at top speed.
He managed to get a few streets away, with the other driver in pursuit, before coming up against yet another car. This time he smashed into it. His mates jumped out and legged it.
Asif reversed the car and collided with a pillar box. The woman victim got out her car. Asif took a deep breath and sped off. He drove back to his house in Bensham, climbed out the car and went inside. His dad's car was a write-off.
"I just loved driving," he says. "I don't know what was going through my head at the time but I was going off adrenalin. When I got back home, I told my brother to have a look at the car. He went outside and couldn't believe it. He was in a state of shock."
It didn't take long for the police to track Asif down. There had been witnesses to the crash who had watched which direction he'd headed in. Asif was arrested and locked in a cell. But it wasn't until his dad came down to the police station that what he had done finally hit him.
"My dad couldn't even speak to me he was so ashamed and angry," says Asif. "Respect is very important in the Asian community. It takes years to build it up but only seconds to destroy it. I felt terrible for letting my family down."
Former Joseph Swan School pupil Asif was eventually convicted of seven offences including taking a vehicle without consent and leaving the scene of an accident.
At court he was given a nine-month referral order to Gateshead's Youth Offending Team, based in Felling and called before the Youth Offender Panel. Asif has vivid memories of that panel meeting. "I didn't cry but I was close," he says. "I just felt very sorry. My mum broke down and when I saw her upset I felt terrible. That hit me hard."
Part of Asif's agreed punishment included 16 hours educational work at the centre and 14 hours community work, known as reparation. He also had to personally pay for the damage caused to the woman victim's car, which meant no hand-outs from his dad. He took a job with the family takeaway business in Hebburn and every penny he earned went towards his debt.
"At the YOT centre I had lessons in victim awareness and consequential thinking," he says. "Then I'd go and pick up litter, fix fences and do some gardening. It's not the sort of work that is good for your image if your mates catch you doing it. But that's why it's a good thing."
This was all several years ago and Asif has now turned his back on crime and is looking towards a more positive future. He is a regular volunteer at the Avenues Project on Coatsworth Road and sits on the Gateshead Youth Forum. "I'm a different person now," he says.
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