A dangerous driver who led police on a high speed chase through Blackburn town centre has been sentenced, almost a year to the day after the incident.
Mohammed Patel, 24, was at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf when officers signalled for him to stop in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2024. However the driver ‘panicked’ and accelerated away from officers, tearing through the town centre at almost double the speed limit, Preston Crown Court heard.
Patel, of Bowness Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving without insurance.
Judge Darren Preston, sentencing, said: “You were very lucky not to have injured yourself and even more lucky not to have injured anyone else driving in this extremely dangerous manner. Sometimes you were on the wrong side of the road, sometimes on grass verges, occasionally with people around and almost always with parked cars on both sides of the street.
“It was too fast and seriously bad driving.”
However the judge accepted the defendant has no previous convictions and committed the offences at a time of instability in his life, following the death of his father.
“Dangerous driving very often results in sentences of imprisonment and I have read you are very worried about that”, Judge Preston said. “So you should be.”
However he said Patel was a young man of previous good character who had experienced difficulty without much support. He sentenced Patel to 10 months suspended for 12 months with 10 days rehabilitation activity requirements and 80 hours of unpaid work.
Patel was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to take an extended retest if he wishes to drive again.
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