Dangerous driver caught twice gets banned from roads for two years
A reckless driver who sped down a main dual carriageway at up to 140mph and undercut other drivers has been banned from the roads and given a suspended jail sentence.
Peter Walton, 25, was caught by police on two separate occasions driving dangerously, without insurance and without a valid license.
On the first of these, in the early hours of July 15 last year, he was spotted driving from Shrewsbury towards Telford on the A5 by police.
The speed of his BMW varied between 50mph and 100mph and officers began following him, prosecutor Mr Philip Vollans told Shrewsbury Crown Court.
He carried on evading them and reached 140mph, undercutting other vehicles as he went.
He left the motorway onto a nearby A-road where police ahead of him had been alerted and deployed a stinger device to burst his tyres.
It succeeded and the police were able to arrest him soon after.
Later that year he was again caught driving dangerously.
On November 25 at about 2am, he was spotted in a silver Honda in Stourbridge.
Questioned
Police checked the details of his car and found it had been registered as off the road, so they questioned him - he was unable to provide details about the car and told the officers: "I've been here before, you're not taking me now."
He sped off and police followed in their own car.
At one point they cornered him in a residential street but he reversed at speed to ram into their car.
The officers were able to get Walton out of the car and he was charged with dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, driving without insurance and without a valid licence, and criminal damage, for hitting the police car.
Walton, of Hobgate Road in Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty in relation to both occasions and he was brought to Shrewsbury Crown Court last week.
His representative, Mr Rob Edwards, told the judge that his actions had been a kind of "cry for help" and that he recognised he was an "extremely lucky man" that the results had not been worse.
Judge Anthony Lowe imposed a suspended sentence of 17 months in total, suspended for two years, and said he hoped that having the threat of jail time over his head for the next two years would benefit him in changing his behaviour.
He also banned him from the roads for two years and endorsed his license, telling him: "You have only got yourself to blame."
