Three months' jail for banned driver who sped off and had to be stopped with 'stinger' device

News from the courtsNews from the courts
News from the courts
Less than two months after being banned from driving and given a suspended prison sentence, a 30 year old man drove his car with false number plates to avoid detection and sped away from the police and had to be stopped with a 'stinger' device, a court has heard.

Martin Richard Thompson, who was living at Willoughby Road, Alford, at the time but has since moved to Walsoken in Wisbech, admitted failing to stop for the police, driving while disqualified and without insurance, driving under the influence of drugs and the fraudulent use of a vehicle registration number.

Prosecuting at Boston Magistrates Court, Marie Stace said Thompson was seen driving his Ford Fiesta on the A16 on August 6 last year at 9.45pm and officers recognised the car was displaying a false number plate.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She said they stopped the vehicle but as they went to it, the car, driven by Thompson, accelerated away and eventually had to be stopped at Wyberton by use of the 'stinger' device, which deflates the tyres, forcing the driver to stop.

She said Thomson provided a positive drugs wipe, which showed he had 3.1 grammes of cannabis in his system, the legal limit being two, and he was identified as having been disqualified from driving in June and having no insurance for the car.

He told the police he had panicked when he was stopped because he knew he was a banned driver.

He admitted he had changed the number of his vehicle to that of a similar one he had seen.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The magistrates were told he had been given a suspended prison sentence and banned from driving for nine months in June last year.

Mitigating, Andrew Cogan said Thompson recognised just how stupid he had been to accept the encouragements of the other people in the car with him.

He said Thompson had panicked when he saw the blue lights behind him.

He asked the magistrates not to impose the suspended prison sentence which he said was for a totally different type of offence, but they told Thompson it had been 'made very clear' to him that the suspended sentence had been his 'last chance'.

Thompson was sent to prison for three months, banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge on his release from prison.

Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice