M6 motorist drove dangerously as he tried to evade police
For 17 seconds, Joshua Sanderson drove on the hard shoulder at more than 40mph as he sought to drive past a “rolling police roadblock” that was created by officers in patrol cars to force him to stop.
At Carlisle[1] Crown Court, the 34-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving otherwise than in accordance with his licence, and driving while uninsured.
At the time, his licence had been revoked until he was able to pass a driving test, so he had no legal authority to drive.
The incident happened on January 30, beginning as the defendant drove a hired Vauxhall Corsa south on the M6 near Killington Lake Services, said prosecutor Andrew Evans.
Initially Sanderson was driving perfectly normally, said Mr Evans. But when police made the decision to stop him because of enquires that led to no further action being taken the defendant refused to.
After the pursuing police officers activated their car’s blue lights and siren, Sanderson pulled over to the hard shoulder, indicating left as though he was about to stop the car.
But instead, he accelerated away, driving past a line of slower moving traffic to his right. “There was a two-minute pursuit,” said the barrister. This included officers deploying a “stinger device” near to a bridge.
He suddenly swerved into the third lane to avoid it, the court heard,
Shortly after this, Sanderson slowed his Vauxhall car and stopped. After his arrested, the defendant was recalled to prison to serve the balance of a jail term for which he was on licence.
Nicoleta Alistari, defending, said Sanderson was now due for release on July 22. “It’s clear from the footage that he wasn’t aware until the flashing of the blue lights that he was being pursued by a police car,” she said.
She said the pursuit along the hard shoulder lasted for only 17 seconds. The barrister also noted the defendant’s struggles with mental health, saying that he had been diagnosed with ADHD and PTSD.
Recorder Kevin Slack described Sanderson’s driving that day as “highly dangerous.” Though his most recent offence was not for driving, his record from more than a decade ago included offences of aggravated vehicle taking and driving with excess alcohol.
The Recorder jailed Sanderson, from Barwell Road, Birmingham, for 20 weeks and disqualified him from driving for 14 months.