A MOTORIST was praised for his “remarkable diligence” in pursuing an erratic driver up the A1 for more than an hour before effectively making a citizen’s arrest.

Dennis Brian Patton, who was driving to the North-East from Kent with his son, Jack, became aware of the Mazda as it joined the A1 near Leeds on the evening of June 29.

Durham Crown Court heard Mr Patton noticed the Mazda, with Martin Mathews at the wheel, was being driven in a haphazard manner.

Lewis Kerr, prosecuting, said the car veered between lanes at fluctuating speeds of up to 80-miles per hour.

He urged his son to alert police, but kept a watching brief as both cars headed northwards.

Mr Kerr said approaching the Bowburn interchange, near Durham, the Mazda made to turn off the A1(M) and clipped some traffic cones in doing so.

As the Mazda turned to head for Durham Services, Mr Patton blocked it off and then removed the keys from the ignition, telling Mathews: “Wait here, the police are coming.”

He replied: “Who are you?”

Mr Kerr said that when police arrived Mathews was breathalysed and gave a reading of 53mg of alcohol. The legal limit is 35mg.

He was arrested, and recently admitted dangerous driving and excess alcohol.

Paul Abrahams, mitigating, said the 55-year-old was medically disqualified from driving “for some time” and had only just got his licence back.

That evening he was thrown out of his home in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, by his wife, after a row and decided to drive to Scotland, despite having been drinking cider.

Mr Abrahams said Mathews, who now lives in a Grimsby hostel, has a mental health condition and no longer intends to drive.

Recorder Ben Nolan commended Mr Patton, for his, “quite remarkable diligence” over about 80 miles on the A1.

He imposed a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, with a three-month night home curfew.

Mathews was also banned from driving for two years.