A young soon-to-be dad took police on a high-speed chase when he reacted badly to the shock of the news.

Thomas Galloway reached speed in excess of 70 miles an hour in a 20-mph zone when he drove off in his mother’s VW Golf following a row with his pregnant girlfriend and headed towards her home.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 22-year-old drove the opposite way down a carriageway, over a field and the wrong way down a one-way street as he made his way from Warren Road to King Oswy Drive, Hartlepool.

Christopher Bevan, prosecuting, said Galloway abandoned the car before trying unsuccessfully to escape on foot.

A roadside drug test showed that he was over the legal driving limit for cannabis as well.

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Galloway, of Bruntoft Avenue, Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on February 10, no insurance, no licence and driving with excess drugs following the events of February 10.

Sarah Hopkinson, in mitigation, said that he had no previous convictions and he panicked when he saw the blue lights.

She said his girlfriend is due to give birth later this year and was in court with his parents supporting him.

Miss Hopkinson added: “He has drastically reduced his cannabis use since then and he is determined to turn his life around and to set a good example to the child.”

Judge Howard Crowson told Galloway he had some ‘growing up to do’ before he became a father and needed to get to grips with his cannabis use.

“You drove too fast and badly round some streets near your home,” he said. “All of this because you didn’t have a licence for driving.”

Galloway was given a two-year community order, six months drug-testing, 25 days rehabilitation activities and disqualified from driving for 18 months.

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