A teenage motorist who caused the deaths of three friends in a car accident while returning from school had assured one victim's father that he would be "careful" when driving, it has been revealed. Edward Spencer, 19, pleaded guilty to three charges of causing death by careless driving and three counts of causing serious injury by careless driving. The court was told that he had only recently passed his driving test before he lost control of his Ford Fiesta and collided with a Fiat on a rural road. It has now come to light that one of the victims, 16 year old Matilda Seccombe, had expressed worries about Spencer's driving style just hours before the tragic crash. Her dad, James, told the media Spencer had promised to look after Matilda, known as Tilly, but "clearly, he didn't". James, who serves as a parish councillor, expressed his regret over allowing his daughter to travel in the car, a decision made after meeting Spencer at a party Tilly hosted for her friends at their home in Preston on Stour, Warwickshire. James and his wife Juliet were still familiarising themselves with Tilly's school friends, whom she had met after joining the sixth form the previous September, at the time of her death, reports the Mirror . Recalling the party at which they met Spencer, James, 55, said: "That was when we agreed to let her go in the car – something we now wish we never had done... I did say to (Spencer) face to face here in our living room to be careful when driving with people in the car and he promised me he would be. Clearly, he didn't." Spencer was handed an interim driving ban on Monday at Warwick Crown Court. He will be sentenced next month and Judge Andrew Lockhart KC warned the teenager he faces a custodial term. The court appearance came days after three teenagers were killed in a horror crash near Shifnal, Shropshire, which West Mercia Police continues to investigate. Such tragedies have led to calls for "graduated" driving licences for new road users, which would carry restrictions such as a six-month ban on ferrying younger passengers. It is something James and Juliet are backing as they reflect on the crash near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, which also claimed the lives of twin Harry Purcell, 17, and fellow sixth-former Frank Wormald, 16, and left three occupants of the Fiat seriously injured. Speaking to the Daily Mail , James added: "Tilly hadn't told us that Spencer was driving poorly because she knew that if she had, we would have put a stop to it and she would have had to go back to using the school bus. "But after the incident, a friend gave a statement to police to say that she was worried about Ed's driving – she had confided this on the afternoon of her death." The dad said messages were subsequently found on Tilly's phone which "show there was obviously another (driving) incident that she was clearly cross about – to which she got a belligerent response (from Spencer)." The court heard Spencer - a keen rugby player - does not remember the circumstances around the April 2023 collision. The defendant, who is from a farming family in Newbold on Stour, Warwickshire, "hasn't shown remorse," Juliet said. The mum, who runs her own soft furnishing business, added: "Until yesterday (Monday), he has spent two years not facing up to what he has done. His legal team commissioned two accident investigation reports – one of which was legally aided – on top of the police crash investigation." Spencer will be sentenced at Warwick Crown Court in April. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE