Disqualified driver jailed after police chase

Dec 1 2009

A DISQUALIFIED driver sped away from police in a friend’s car and then switched off his lights in a bid to evade capture.

During the ensuing chase, he ran a red light and then abandoned the vehicle before running off.

But police went to a house in the town’s Emma Street where they found 23-year-old Ryan Thomson hiding in a small cupboard.

The catalogue of road traffic offences, including a breach of curfew, led to Thomson, of Balmoral Road, being jailed for a total of 10 months at Perth Sheriff Court.

He was also banned for five years – and ordered to resit the extended driving test.

He admitted driving dangerously in Wellmeadow, Blairgowrie, on September 12 by driving through a red light and accelerating away from a marked police car.

He then drove at excessive speed through various streets, which had a 30mph limit, to the danger of other road users.

He also pled guilty to driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

Solicitor Paul Ralph said that Thomson had been at a party. The car belonged to his friend, who had taken too much to drink.

But Thomson didn’t want his friend driving home drunk and elected to get behind the wheel.

Imposing the jail term, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “If you had immediately stopped when the police appeared on the scene, that might well have been a matter which might have been dealt with by a community-based disposal.

“But the fact of the matter is, once police arrived on the scene – it’s just after midnight – you drove through a built-up area, through a red light, switched off your lights and clearly drove dangerously.”

Noting that the accused had two previous convictions for dangerous driving, he added: “There is absolutely no other realistic sentence to me but a custodial one.”