A care worker who allowed herself to be driven in a car by two teenagers who were uninsured and had no licence has been struck off.

A Social Care Wales fitness to practise panel imposed the most severe sanction available on Debra Lloyd from Wrexham.

She had not reported incidents to her colleagues and bosses because one of the boys had made serious threats against her.

Mrs Lloyd, who worked for the Keys Group at a small residential home in Derby Road, Wrexham, was sacked after the incidents came to light and the home has since closed.

Footage of the two episodes which had been filmed on the boys’ phones, was found on the home’s computer.

Mrs Lloyd, a former teaching assistant, had started work for the company only a couple of months earlier in January 2016 and was still in her probationary period at the time.

She told the committee she should not have been placed in such a situation alone as she was inexperienced and unqualified. On both occasions the keys were snatched from her.

In mitigation, she said she did not pose a risk to service users or anyone else and would now be better able to cope with such challenging behaviour.

“I have learned from this and would never put myself in this position again,” she said, adding: “I would like to think not all companies are like that one.”

The panel, which sat for three days at Beaufort Park Hotel near Mold, was told Mrs Lloyd now worked for the New Directions recruitment company and she submitted two references praising her work.

However, the panel found that her fitness to practise was impaired and that she had shown no real insight into the seriousness of her failings, blaming others for the situation.

“We cannot be satisfied that, put in a challenging situation, you would not put your own needs first,” said chairman Eileen Schott.

Mrs Lloyd admitted having lied to her new employers about her suspension by Keys Group and Ms Schott said her integrity could not be relied upon.

The panel found she had committed “fundamental breaches of the tenets of the profession” and removal from the register was the only appropriate sanction.

Public confidence in the profession would be reduced if she were allowed to remain on the register, Ms Schott added.

The panel had been one of two teenagers took keys from Mrs Lloyd on two occasions in 2016 - once in a field in Kingsmills, Wrexham and again on a lane near the Erddig estate.

Mrs Lloyd had put herself, the public and the boys at risk by not reporting matters to the Derby Road care home.

Mrs Lloyd said on the second occasion she had stopped the car because of a lamb in the road and she and A had got out to return it to a field.

Teenager 'A' then grabbed her hand, forced back her thumb and prized the key from her before driving off, stopping shortly and reversing back, banging on the steering wheel and shouting at Mrs Lloyd to get in.

The panel heard A stopped the car between five and 10 minutes later when Mrs Lloyd opened the passenger door and threatened to jump out.

She told the panel she had got in because she was petrified but wanted to gain control of the situation.

Ms Schott said the panel did not think Mrs Lloyd could not have taken steps to stop the incidents from occurring and found the allegation she had allowed the teenagers - who were uninsured and had no licences - to drive was not proven.

But despite her intentions to regain control of the situation, the panel found she had allowed herself to be carried in the vehicle driven by A.

Mrs Lloyd admitted an allegation of filming the second incident on a mobile phone.

Ms Schott said there was no evidence in the 43 second clip seen by the panel that Mrs Lloyd had encouraged A. She had told him to slow down and there was alarm in her voice, but there had been opportunities to tell him to stop and she had not done so.

The panel found Mrs Lloyd had not put the youngsters or the public at risk in relation to the driving matters, as the actions were not attributable to her.

But she had also done so in relation to the reporting allegation, because preventative measures and support could not be put in place.

She also put herself at risk by allowing by being a car with an uninsured and unqualified driver.

Allegations that she had failed to tell a new employer in February 2017 that she was still suspended were found to be proven.