The bereaved mother of a teenager killed in a car crash is backing calls for a new type of driving licence for under 21-year-olds to become UK law – saying "it won't bring him back, but it will prevent other parents from going through what we did".

Nicola Bell-Percy lost her son Aaron Bell, 18, on July 29, 2022, when the car he was a passenger in span out of control and smashed into a tree on the B6268 between Bedale and Masham.

The crash killed Aaron and two of his friends, with the driver of the car, Joshua Chapman, 18, jailed for nine years and four months after admitting to causing the deaths of the three teenagers in March.

Aaron's mother believes that the crash may not have happened under a Graduated Driving Licence (GDL) scheme, which would bar new drivers under 21 from carrying passengers of a similar age for six months.

The GDL campaign, which originally began from motoring group AA, came after it found one in five young drivers crash within a year of passing their test and more than 1,500 young drivers are killed or seriously injured each year.

(Image: FAMILY/PA MEDIA)

Mrs Bell-Percy has backed the AA campaign and is keen to see it become UK law.

"We need to get people to understand the campaign, and get young people to understand that we're not doing it to be awkward – we want to make our young people safer.

"We want to protect our young people – I wouldn't wish this on anyone. It might not bring Aaron back but if it can help just one parent, it'll be worth it."

Alongside the AA's campaign, Mrs Bell-Percy has called for restrictions on the engine size of cars available to young drivers and nighttime driving as other measures she'd like to see rolled out.

She is also part of a group called Forget-me-not Families Uniting, which features other parents who have lost loved ones on UK roads including Crystal Owen, whose 17-year-old son Harvey died in a car crash in north Wales with three of his friends last November.

"When teenagers get into a car together, it's the peer pressure, it's the showing off," said Mrs Bell-Percy. "This Graduated Driving Licence can shield young drivers a little.

"It's become all too common to see young lives lost on the roads unnecessarily.

"Six months as part of the Graduated Driving Licence probably seems a lifetime for a teenager, but it's better than losing your life."

In recent times, Mrs Bell-Percy, who is continuing to work with road charity Brake to educate young people about driving, has been in touch with Richmond and Northallerton MP Rishi Sunak to try and get him to back the campaign. She wants the AA campaign to be Aaaron's "legacy" – and has created a presentation for schoolchildren as a cautionary tale of young driver fatalities.

Forget-me-not Families Uniting has also set up a TikTok account in a bid to target young people online and get the message across about road safety and the Graduated Driving Licence campaign.

The AA said the proposal has the potential to prevent 934 serious injuries and save 58 lives on UK roads each year.

Similar measures already exist in Northern Ireland, as well as some European countries, with Mrs Bell-Percy pushing for the UK to do the same.

Edmund King, AA president, said: "The AA believes we need a system of graduated learning with a logbook whereby all learners need to demonstrate their skills on all types of roads and crucially on rural roads where 71 per cent of new driver fatal crashes occur, and in different weather conditions and different times of day or night.

"Once they have passed their test the driver shouldn’t be allowed to carry same-age passengers for at least six months as research shows that with every same-age passenger, they are four times more likely to crash.

"Most people don’t realise until it is too late, that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults ages five to 29 years according to the World Health Organisation."

However the Department for Transport has said it is not currently considering the measures for elsewhere in the UK.