The teen, who did not have a driving licence, waited for his father to fall asleep, then took his car for a joyride.

If that was not bad enough, he sped past a police road block when ordered to stop.

And this was just months after he had been nabbed for taking drugs.

Yesterday, Thomas Joseph Anderson, 17, a British national, was sentenced to 24 months' probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

The court heard that Anderson's father had rented a white Kia Sportage from National Car Rentals in Havelock Road.

On Nov 10, 2014, as his father slept, Anderson helped himself to the car keys, without permission, so that he could drive to meet his girlfriend.

At about 1.10am, he was driving along Holland Road towards Ulu Pandan Road when he approached a road barrier set up by the police.

He slowed his vehicle down, but sped up again when he was about 30m from the barrier.

He then switched to the rightmost lane, narrowly sped past an officer and tried to get away.

CAR PLATE

Police officers gave chase, but lost him at the junction of Holland Road and Holland Avenue.

They used the vehicle's registration number to track down Anderson, who admitted he did not stop at the barrier as he did not want to be caught for driving without a licence.

The court also heard that Anderson had been arrested on Sept 6, 2014, by police officers at the holding room of Marina Bay Sands Casino on suspicion of having taken drugs.

His urine later tested positive for cannabis.

He admitted that he had bought the drugs from an unidentified man at *Scape Orchard and had paid $50 for 2g of cannabis.

Earlier this year, Anderson had pleaded guilty to five charges, which included one count of failing to stop at a police road barrier when told to do so, one count of driving his father's car without consent, and one count of driving without valid insurance.

The other two charges were for driving without a licence and one count of consumption of drugs. Five other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Yesterday, District Judge Salina Ishak said the court was concerned about Anderson's history with drugs and said he had to put in effort to rehabilitate.

The judge ordered Anderson to be placed on 24 months' split probation: 18 months of intensive probation and six months of supervised probation.

Conditions of probation include him spending 18 months at halfway house The Hiding Place, staying indoors between 10pm and 6am, and undergoing regular urine tests.

His parents will also be bonded for $5,000.

- Ronald Loh