A STUDENT who wrote off her boyfriend’s car on the A483 was told the pair were lucky they hadn’t been taken out of the destroyed vehicle in body bags.

Sophy Ruscoe, of Wharf Road, Ellesmere, grabbed the wheel of the Vauxhall Corsa being driven by Kyle Barclay because she wanted him to pull over at the Johnstown slip-road amid a row over a text message.

The car veered off the dual carriageway, flipping over and hitting a hedge before landing in a ditch. The £8,000 Corsa was destroyed in the crash on May 28 this year, but the pair were able to walk out of the wreckage with minor injuries.

But handing Ruscoe, 19, a £3,092 bill – which included £2,500 compensation to the driver – was told by Chairman of Wrexham Magistrates Phillip Jones: “Both of you are extremely lucky to walk away with bruises and cuts.

“We are shocked to see the photographs of the car and quite honestly we’re fortunate we’re not in a coroner’s court today. You are lucky you weren’t taken out of that car in a body bag.”

Ruscoe initially denied a charge of causing danger to road users, but she changed her plea to guilty at Wrexham Magistrates’ Court. She admitted causing criminal damage.

Prosecutor Ceri Ellis-Jones said the Corsa was being driven at between 60 and 70 mph at the time the defendant pulled on its wheel.

The pair had been in a relationship “for some time”, but an argument ensued because Ruscoe saw a text message her boyfriend had received “from another female”.

“She asked him to take her home and to come off at the next junction, but he refused because it wasn’t safe to stop and he didn’t want to leave her stranded a considerable way from her home,” said Ms Ellis-Jones.

Angered that her boyfriend wouldn’t pull up, Ruscoe grabbed the wheel and put it into a full lock.

The Corsa flipped over twice before coming to rest in the ditch.

Mr Barclay suffered minor cuts and bruises and both driver and passenger were taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Christie Ankers-Phillips, defending, said that Ruscoe had not intended to cause the crash and realised it had been “a foolish thing to do”.

“She didn’t realise the consequences of her actions and there was no intention to cause the accident, she only wanted him to go up the slip road and pull over.”

The court was told that Ruscoe, an animal husbandry student, was a provisional licence holder and was 18 at the time of the crash. Magistrates banned her from the road for 12 months and fined her £162 with costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £30.

But she must pay Mr Barclay - with whom she is no longer in a relationship - £2,500.