PASSENGERS in a car that was allegedly driven at speeds of up to 120mph before it crashed on the A12 held hands because they were so frightened, a court has heard.

The women, who were in the back seat of a BMW driven by 21-year-old Shaun Musson, had been celebrating the 19th birthday of one of the group at a nightclub in Chelmsford and had been offered a lift home by Musson, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The four women had squeezed into the back of the car and a male friend of Musson’s had sat in the front passenger seat, said Richard Stevens, prosecuting.

He claimed that within moments of driving away from the nightlcub the women had become concerned after Musson collided with bollards in the road.

Musson had then driven on to the A12 and passengers in the car had allegedly seen the speedometer go up to 120mph, said Mr Stevens.

He said it was raining heavily and Musson had allegedly lost control of the vehicle and collided with the central barrier in the road and the rear of another car, causing that vehicle to hit the crash barrier.

“This defendant was driving badly over a distance and was causing alarm to his passengers,” said Mr Stevens.

Musson, of Caxton Close, Tiptree, has denied dangerous driving on April 29 last year.

Christina Hebron, who was a passenger in the car and had been celebrating her 19th birthday on the night in question said that after Musson had hit bollards in the road one of her friends had asked him to stop the car so she could get out but he had told her to shut up.

Miss Hebron said she started to feel “really scared” and when Musson reached the A12 she saw the speedometer reading increase from 70mph to 120 mph.

She said she and one of her friends had held hands to comfort each other as the speed of the car increased. After the crash she had blacked out and had come round to find her nose was bleeding.

She denied a suggestion from defence counsel Gavin Burrell that the reading she had seen on the speedometer was kilometers per hour and not miles per hour.

The trial continues today.