A LEARNER driver deliberately rammed a police car at 85mph as it tried to box him in following a 20-mile high-speed pursuit along the M42 and M40.
It sent Yahya Ismail’s BMW spinning and the police car into a crash barrier, leaving the M42 near Redditch blocked, a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard.
The incident happened on the evening of December 28, 2020 and resulted in the M42 near Solihull being completely blocked.
Jailing him for 14 months, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told Ismail: “This is one of the worst cases of dangerous driving I have had to deal with for some time.”
Ismail, 21, of Gibbs Road, Lye, Stourbridge, was also disqualified for three years and two months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, no insurance or full licence and driving over the legal limit of cannabis.
Prosecutor Glyn Samuel said that at 9.35pm on December 28, 2020, police saw a BMW driven by Ismail heading out of Leamington with only one working headlight and the front number plate was on the dashboard, so the officers followed it.
Ismail, who had only a provisional licence, increased his speed, leading to the blue light chase onto the M40, using the hard shoulder at times to get past other traffic.
He then joined the M42 with three police cars in the pursuit.
Mr Samuel said: “At junction 3 a police vehicle was in the lead so they could box him in, and stingers had been placed on the slip road.
“He switched lane as the officers tried to box him in and hit the off-side of a police vehicle at 85mph, causing it to spin and hit the crash barrier.”
Ismail, who had no previous convictions, was duly arrested.
Brad Lawlor, defending, conceded: “There is very little to say about the offence itself. This was a protracted incident of extremely bad driving.”
