A teenager who hitched a lift then threatened the driver with a bread knife has avoided a jail term.

Lewis Warren, 19, admitted possession of an offensive weapon and affray after he was given a lift in a car by a stranger to his home in Coldwell Drive, Witney, then ran out of his house with the knife when the driver asked for money for the lift.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday, Judge John Ryder handed Warren a 12-month community order to carry out 180 hours unpaid work and ordered him to pay £30 compensation and £250 costs.