A BANNED motorist drove off at high speed round residential streets in a village when police suspected his passing car was uninsured.

Anthony Peter Dinsdale, who had taken both cocaine and cannabis, was fearful of being stopped by police after realising he had been spotted at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf, in Langley Park, at 11.25am on November 25.

Durham Crown Court was told the police pursuers put on blue lights and the siren of their vehicle, but Dinsdale refused to stop as he sped from Front Street, to Railway Street, Quebec Street and Finings Avenue.

Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, said Dinsdale reached an estimated 80-miles per hour in one 30-limit area and the police vehicle was struggling to keep up with the Golf.

It went onto Davis Avenue and The Crescent, where cars were parked on both sides of the road, and at one point Dinsdale mounted the pavement to avoid a collision with an oncoming vehicle pulling out from a junction.

Mr Gittins said the car chase reached a conclusion when Dinsdale came to a dead end in Garden Avenue and so abandoned the Golf, fleeing on foot.

He ran onto a dirt track, before being found hiding in bushes in a field, where he eventually surrendered after stumbling around in the undergrowth when a taser was produced by police.

Dinsdale provided positive tests for both cannabis and cocaine, in each case in excess of limits for driving.

He made admissions but claimed he had not reached 80-mph during the chase.

The court heard his previous convictions are motoring related, including driving while disqualified and with excess alcohol.

Thirty-year-old Dinsdale, of Langley Street, Langley Park, admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance, plus two charges of driving while unfit through drugs.

Lewis Kerr, mitigating, said he accepts his driving was “appalling”, but only after being spotted by police.

The court heard he only drove that day as he was on his way to sell the car, at a time when he was suffering with mental health issues.

But Judge Ray Singh said Dinsdale has a history of ignoring court orders relating to driving and he should not have been behind the wheel that day, as he was banned, uninsured and under the influence of drugs.

He imposed a ten-month prison sentence and banned Dinsdale from driving for three years and five months.