Two teenagers who, between them, admitted taking more than 200 cars have escaped being locked up after a court heard they wanted to "wipe the slate clean."

Bradford magistrate David Shannon told Steven Stewart and Ryan Barraclough, both aged 18, they had come "very, very close" to a custodial sentence.

But they had been spared because of their co-operation with the police in clearing up so many other cases of vehicles being taken without the owners' consent.

Stewart, of St Mary's Avenue, Wyke, admitted aggravated vehicle-taking; driving while disqualified and without insurance; being carried in a vehicle taken without consent and breaching a community rehabilitation order.

He asked for 108 other offences to be taken into consideration and was given a 12-month community rehabilitation order, a community punishment order for 70 hours and a night-time curfew for six months.

He was banned from driving for a year and will have to take an extended test.

Barraclough, of Griffe Head Crescent, Wyke, admitted taking a vehicle without consent, driving while disqualified and without insurance.

He asked for 109 other offences to be considered and was given a 12-month community rehabilitation order, a community punishment order for 60 hours and banned for a year.

Vanessa Schofield, prosecuting, said Barraclough had been banned from driving last April but, on the night of December 29, he was behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Cavalier, with Stewart in the passenger seat.

A police patrol spotted the car in Wyke and drove their vehicle into its path.

It came to a stop almost bumper-to-bumper with the police vehicle but then the driver reversed and set off towards Odsal.

The officers followed, but the car disappeared and was later found abandoned. The pair were later arrested and admitted their involvement in the incident.

In January, a car taken from outside the owner's home was seen by police in St Mary's Crescent, Wyke.

It failed to stop and was driven erratically through the estate at 40 mph.

After accelerating onto Towngate, it dropped 2ft down a grassed area and other officers joined the pursuit as it weaved around concrete bollards, forcing two people to jump out of the way and a taxi driver to swerve.

The car was eventually halted after police officers used a blocking technique.

Solicitor Alan Petherbridge, for both teenagers, said they had been involved in the culture whereby taking other people's cars had become a way of life, but they now wished to wipe the slate clean and move on.

"Confessing to a large number of offences when they need not have done is a form of redemption and drawing a line under the past," he said.

"Neither of these men expects to get away with anything. They are realistic, but they are saying, 'We have done enough and we want to move on.'"

The offences did merit imprisonment, but with credit for their guilty pleas and the early release arrangements they would only serve about six weeks in custody.

Community-based penalties would be of longer term benefit, said Mr Petherbridge.