A driver was yesterday cleared of causing the death of an 18-year-old passenger in a head-on crash after he took over the wheel from him.

The court failed to be convinced that he had been driving on the wrong side of the road.

John Pierre Farrugia, 32, of St Paul’s Bay, was still found guilty of driving the car without insurance cover. He was fined €2,500 and banned from the road for 12 months.

The accident occurred on March 3, 2002, in St Andrew’s Road, Swieqi, at about 4.30pm when the car collided with a Seat Ibiza driven by Clive Ellul Hawthorn.

The body of Mr Farrugia’s friend Joseph Stephen Gabriel, a front passenger, had to be extracted from the wreckage.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said it was not clear from the experts’ evidence that the accused had been driving on the wrong side of the road.

Evidence showed the Fiat Bis driven by Mr Farrugia was insured in Mr Gabriel’s mother’s name, with an endorsement that it could be driven by him.

In fact it was Mr Gabriel who had started driving the car from Buġibba towards St Andrew’s.

However, Mr Farrugia and Noel Busuttil, a rear seat passenger, asked him to stop since he was driving haphazardly. Mr Farrugia took over the steering wheel from Salina.