Jail for drink driver who fled cops in a Clio

Published on 8th February 2007 in News

A four-times-banned drink driver took Goole police on a 70mph car chase before a horror smash when he crashed down a railway embankment and survived.

Motors nut Gary Durrant (27), of Weatherill Street, wrote off his girlfriend's Renault Clio tying to outrun a Humberside police car while more than twice over the legal limit.

Uninsured Mr Durrant, who has been before the courts on 17 occasions for 38 offences, was blasted by Judge Tom Cracknell at Hull Crown Court as he jailed him for 12 months for dangerous driving on Monday.

He told him: "When you have a drink you behave in an appalling manner. It is only by the grace of God that someone was not wiped out, all because you cannot control your desire to get behind the wheel."

Mr Durrant was four months into a three-year ban and a nine-month suspended prison sentence for aggravated vehicle-taking when he hit the booze and drove off in his girlfriend's car around Goole.

He was spotted on Rawcliffe Road doing 40mph in a 30mph limit coming towards police, overtaking and forcing the police car to avoid a head-on collision three abreast, barrister Mark Kendal told Hull Crown Court.

Mr Durrant had pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving and driving without insurance on November 24, 2006 on Rawcliffe Road. He was found to have 87 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath when the legal limit is 35.

Mr Kendal said Mr Durrant overtook four vehicles in succession, at one point reaching 70mph and mounting a verge before flying off the road down a railway embankment and coming to a stop.

Impatient Mr Durrant has a string of motoring convictions, including one last year for screeching to a halt in front of police at a Goole railway crossing while on his way to buy drugs in a stolen car.

Despite being given a chance to go straight he lapsed at the end of a three-month curfew.

"It was idiotic to try and outrun a police car in a Clio," said his defence barrister Paul Genney. "He panicked when he saw a flashing police light. It was not a lengthy pursuit. It took about five minutes. He says this will be the last time he comes before the courts."

He said Mr Durrant had a job but his fiancée was standing by him, despite losing her car being wrecked.

Judge Cracknell ordered he should be given a 12-month sentence for dangerous driving, and a consecutive six-month sentence for no insurance. He was given a consecutive nine months for breaching his suspended prison sentence imposed last July.

Mr Durrant, who appeared from cells, was also disqualified from driving for five years.