A MAN who tried to dodge a "lunatic" driving charge by claiming he was only a car passenger was yesterday warned he faced jail.

Kenneth Wilding narrowly missed two sisters as he drove off a pub car park and collided with another car, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Police had to use CS gas to restrain him but he then smashed a patrol car window with his head.

Wilding, 22, of Beauchamp Avenue, Kidderminster, was convicted by a jury of dangerous driving and criminal damage.

Granting him bail for a pre-sentence report, Judge John Cavell said: "This sort of dangerous driving could have resulted in serious injury and is normally met with a custodial sentence."

The sisters were walking past The Musketeer pub in Severn Grove, Kidderminster, on March 26 this year when they heard a Vauxhall Astra being revved up.

Tariq Shakoor, prosecuting, said the car just missed the women as it went down Jubilee Drive.

It sped along Spring Grove Road and collided with a Vauxhall Corsa in Sutton Park Road.

Three people fled from the Astra but Wilding was arrested nearby.

He became aggressive, threatened police and smashed the police car's rear window.

He insisted he was only a passenger on a test drive and claimed it was the car's owner who drove "like a lunatic".

He said he fled in panic from the crash scene and banged his head on the patrol car because of pain from the CS spray.

After the guilty verdicts, Mr Shakoor revealed that Wilding had a criminal record which included assault on police, handling stolen goods and criminal damage.

In May this year he was jailed for six months by a judge for affray and escaping from lawful custody.