A LEARNER driver tried to outrun police before jumping from his moving car and leaving his passengers inside.

The out-of-control vehicle hit a bollard and perched on top of it while Aaron Donley fled, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The 25-year-old was arrested months after the drama in Hartlepool, and was today (Tuesday, December 23) jailed for nine months.

His lawyer, Andrew Teate, had urged Judge Peter Bowers to suspend the sentence because Donley now has work.

He described the driving as "not the worst of its kind" and said Donley panicked when he saw the police car.

Th court heard how the driver - never to have passed a test - went straight over junctions on the Owton Manor estate, in the town.

Other vehicles had to take action to avoid a collision as Donley lost control on corners and ignored 'give way' signs, the court heard.

Mr Teate said Donley had turned around his life since being jailed for 40 months in 2012 for attempted robbery.

He got a £700-a-week job as a cable-puller and his country-wide travels kept him away from bad influences, he said.

"He has to accept that his driving was dangerous and it was in a built-up area," Mr Teate told Judge Bowers.

"He was driving the car for two to three minutes, he estimates, and the maximum speed was 40mph, according to the police.

"He says the car was in neutral and was going at a slow speed, so he jumped from it and ran from the scene.

"The car collided with the bollards and came to its resting place. The passengers told police Aaron Donley was the driver."

Donley, of Wynyard Road, Hartlepool, was also banned from the roads for two years after he admitted dangerous driving.

Judge Bowers told him: "Any case involving a chase where somebody tried to avoid the police deserves imprisonment.

"You drove badly through a built-up area, and driving like that puts the lives of other innocent road-users at risk. We see the results of that every week."

The judge jailed Donley for nine months.