A BANNED driver who tried to outrun police with his pregnant girlfriend as passenger was branded a “selfish coward” as he was locked up.

Daryl Forster raced at speeds of up to 80mph around a housing estate before jumping from his moving car which collided with a telegraph pole.

He ran off but was caught nearby and and is now starting a 15-month prison sentence – missing the birth of one son and the first birthday of another.

Forster wept as footage of the April chase – around the Owton Manor area of Hartlepool, which was taken from the pursuing police car – was shown at Teesside Crown Court.

The 27-year-old’s lawyer, Jonathan Harley, admitted the driving was “horrendous”, “exceptionally dangerous and exceptionally stupid” and said: “It could have resulted in far more serious consequences.”

Forster, of Irvine Road, Hartlepool, admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, having no insurance, drug-driving and possessing cannabis.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton said he was a selfish coward.