"Driver chased by cops after 'panicking' because he was breaching Covid rules"

Wasim Khan was jailed for six months at Warwick Crown Court



A driver who panicked when he saw the police because he was in breach of the Covid lockdown rules is now facing another kind of lockdown – in a prison cell.

Wasim Khan was jailed for six months by a judge at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to charges of dangerous driving and failing to stop for the police.

Khan, 24, of Churchill Avenue, Foleshill, Coventry, was also banned from driving for two years and three months.

Prosecutor David Jackson said that at just after 11pm on February 18 police dog handler Sgt Simpson was in a marked van in Barras Lane, Coundon.

Khan was driving in the opposite direction in a Peugeot 308, with a passenger, and appeared to be trying to conceal his face as he approached the police van.

So the sergeant decided to stop him, and turned round to follow the Peugeot to pull it over.

But Khan sped away through a red light at the junction with Holyhead Road, cut across the carriageway and back into Barras Lane, contravening a keep left sign.

Sgt Simpson put on the van’s blue lights and siren, but Khan still failed to stop and continued along Windsor Street at about 50 in the 30mph zone.

“It has speed bumps, and he went over them at such a speed that the vehicle was lifting into the air.

“He then took a right into Upper Spon Street towards a no entry sign, past the sign and over a narrow bridge. It’s only wide enough for one vehicle, and if someone had been coming in the opposite direction there would have been a head-on collision.”

Khan then turned into Butts Road, veering across the carriageway and colliding with a Vauxhall coming in the opposite direction, said Mr Jackson.

In Spon End the Peugeot mounted the pavement and went under a railway bridge, squeezing through a gap between the bridge and a fence which was so narrow that the rear bumper was ripped off.

And when he came to the Arches Industrial Estate, Khan finally stopped and was arrested.

He was insured and had a full licence, but explained that he had panicked because he was breaching Covid lockdown rules.

ailing Khan, who had a previous conviction for assault, Judge Barry Berlin told him: “Lives were put at serious risk. This was appalling driving.

“The police were put at risk, and members of the public and anyone who was walking in that area could have died as a result of your activity.

“Appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”

I somehow doubt that was the real reason he panicked?