The moment drugged Jesmond danger driver overtook emergency ambulance and smashed into cars

A drugged danger driver overtook an ambulance responding to an emergency call before losing control and careering over a path into cars on a garage forecourt.

Cocaine-fuelled Qays Ahmed had already been involved in a police chase in North Shields^[1] when he was spotted driving a silver BMW 3-series in the West End of Newcastle^[2]. In an attempt to evade capture, he drove dangerously down the West Road, going through a red light and speeding past an ambulance which had its blue lights activated.

Ahmed, 23, of Clayton Road, Jesmond^[3], Newcastle, who travelled on the wrong side of the road, then lost control, smashing into vehilces parked outside a car dealership, causing thousands of pounds of damage, before running off.

Newcastle Crown Court^[4] heard it was on May 13 last year around 7.50am that police were looking for the BMW, which had been reported as having failed to stop during a pursuit earlier that Saturday morning. An officer parked at the roundabout where the A1 meets West Road, in Newcastle, saw the car drive past and go through a red light at a pedestrian crossing, travelling at speed heading east down West Road.

The officer made no attempt to pursue the car but alerted colleagues to having seen it. Around a mile down the road, Ahmed lost control and crashed into cars on a garage forecourt.

Shada Mellor, prosecuting, said there is footage of the dangerous driving from the ambulance he overtook. She told the court: "The footage shows the defendant's vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road.

"It nearly collides with a red van trying to turn off and it then loses control, goes back across the other side of the road and collides with vehicles which are parked on a garage forecourt."

Four vehicles and a wall were damaged in the crash, costing the car sales company around £3,000. Ahmed made off on foot but was arrested shortly afterwards. He was more than three times the specified driving limit for cocaine and 16 times the limited for benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite of cocaine.

The court heard he had no previous convictions at the time but has since been convicted of failing to provide a specimen in an offence committed in September last year. He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and two counts of drug driving and was sentenced to 14 months suspended for two years with 150 hours unpaid work and a two-year driving ban.

Recorder Richard Stubbs told him: "I've seen the CCTV from the ambulance you overtook on the West Road. You overtook an ambulance that was on a blue light, went into the wrong lane and overtook at a junction where you narrowly avoided a red van.

"You lost control, crashed over the pavement, over a small wall and into the forecourt of the car dealership, where you crashed into four vehicles parked there. It's extremely fortunate no one was on the pavement at that time."

Mairi Clancy, defending, said Ahmed accepts it was "dangerous and appalling driving" but added: "This offence happened at a particularly stressful time in his life. He was at one point homeless and is now living in a hostel.

"He panicked and took off. His decision making is linked to a level of immaturity." Miss Clancy said Ahmed was disappointed to read in a pre-sentence report that he had displayed no remorse and added: "He is acutely aware someone could have been killed as a result of his driving and is deeply sorry."

References

1. ^{^} North Shields (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Newcastle (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Jesmond (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Newcastle Crown Court (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)