A DRINK driver who wrapped a car around a lamppost after hitting speeds of 80mph plus in 30mph zones been jailed.

Ryan Dowson got into an argument with his partner after a night out in a social club in Hartlepool and took the spare keys to her Nissan Qashqai car when they got home, driving off.

The 23-year-old failed to stop for police in Owton Manor Lane and carried on driving at speed along several roads in the town, before he tried to take a corner too quickly and collided with a lamppost.

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh told Teesside Crown Court that an officer approached the car, but Dowson lurched the vehicle back, before revving it.

The officer used his baton to break a window, distracting the defendant, before a colleague reached in and grabbed the keys from the ignition.

Dowson gave a positive breath test for alcohol at the roadside, but refused another test back at the police station.

He later admitted dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, failing to provide a specimen and having no insurance on April 23 this year.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said jobless Dowson was “contrite and remorseful” and also described how he had an opportunity for employment.

However the barrister failed to persuade Judge Howard Crowson to suspend the jail sentence on his client.

The judge said Dowson drove “very quickly, very badly”.

Dowson, of Dunbar Road, Hartlepool, was imprisoned for ten months, having already been disqualified from driving for three years.