A teenager who led police on a high speed chase reaching speeds of 127mph in a 50mph zone has avoided being locked up.
Liam Brown, of Barnes Street, Church, managed to elude two pursuing police cars before striking a stinger device deployed near a roundabout, a court heard.
However the uninsured and unlicensed driver continued to try and evade arrest and reached 110mph with a punctured front tyre before losing control and crashing into another roundabout.
Brown, who was 19 at the time of the offence but has now turned 20, pleaded guilty at Burnley Crown Court to dangerous driving, driving without a licence and using a car without insurance all while subject to a suspended sentence order.
He was sentenced to serve six months in a young offenders institute, suspended for 18 months with a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to pay £260 costs and carry out 100 hours unpaid work.
He was also disqualified from driving for 30 months and ordered to take an extended re-test.
Karen Brooks, prosecuting, said officers spotted Brown’s Peugeot 206 on Slade Lane in Padiham at 11.30pm on September 28 this year and chased after him through Higham and Fence where he reached 127mph in a 50mph area.
The court heard how Brown, formerly of Warner Street, Accrington, then approached a roundabout in Barrowford at speed before the officer abandoned his pursuit because it was ‘too dangerous’.
Miss Brooks said another officer then spotted Brown shortly after midnight in Chatburn and he went through a set of temporary traffic lights on red before fleeing.
Another officer then deployed a stinger device at around 12.10am which punctured Brown’s front off-side tyre. However Miss Brooks told the court heard how Brown didn’t stop and continued along the A59 towards Preston ‘despite the fact the tyre was clearly not in a state to be driven on’ and he reached speeds of 110mph. The chase eventually ended when Brown lost control and crashed into the Petrie roundabout near Langho.
Miss Brooks said: “When the defendant was arrested he accepted he had been an idiot and didn’t know why he did what he did.”
Judge Ian Leeming QC said: “Small cars can go quite fast these days.”
