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A learner driver has been jailed after police clocked him driving at speeds in excess of 135 mph.
Let’s face it – this probably wasn’t a regular lesson with the AA driving school. Reports stated that the incident in Devon happened in a Subaru Impreza (of course).
According to a report in the North Devon Gazette:
A learner driver clocked driving at more than 135mph on the North Devon Link Road has been jailed
Leon Lloyd had only picked up the second Subaru Impreza 30 minutes earlier and was driving it from Bude to his home in Merseyside when police tried to stop him for having no insurance.
He pretended to pull into a layby but then took off at such high speeds that the police patrol car struggled to keep up, reaching 137mph at one point but not gaining ground on him.
The Subaru covered nine miles between South Molton and Tiverton on the A361 in just four and a half minutes, meaning his average speed during the chase was 120mph on a 60mph road.
A dashcam in the police car showed him crossing double white lines, going round a roundabout without stopping, and weaving between traffic.
The car went so fast that police lost sight of it twice before the footage showed smoke billowing from the blown engine. The traffic car pulled alongside it to prevent Lloyd getting out of the driver’s door.
The pursuit occurred at 3.50pm on a Saturday afternoon in July when the road was busy with families going to and from North Devon’s beaches.
Lloyd had been working for an animal charity in Spain but came back to Britain to take his driving test. He only had a provisional licence and had volunteered to help a friend drive the Subaru back to Skelmersdale.
There were two other people inside the car who had both been begging him to slow down during the pursuit.
Lloyd, aged 23, of Carfield, Skelmersdale, admitted dangerous driving and driving with no insurance or licence. He was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for three years by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.
He told him: “There is no way you could have a vehicle travelling at that speed under control. There were dozens and dozens of vehicles coming towards you. One slight hiccup with the steering wheel would have caused a collision with possible multiple fatalities.
“The driving in this case was shockingly dangerous. There was a period when the police were driving at more than 135mph and making no progress.
“This was a sustained and prolonged period in which you drove with complete disregard for road marking, speed limits and the safety of other drivers.”
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