A TEENAGER who drove like a "lunatic" as he was pursued by five police cars in a high-speed chase was told by a judge he was lucky no one was killed.
Adam Green, 18, told probation officers it felt like he was playing a PlayStation game as he swerved across roads in Castleford and Methley while fleeing police during the pursuit in the early hours of the morning on July 28.
Judge Terence Walsh a
t Leeds Crown Court on Friday handed Green a community order with 150 hours unpaid work after watching a seven-minute video recording of his horror ride.
He said: "This is real life. An accident at those speeds in those conditions could end with somebody dead."
Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, told the court Green had reached speeds of 70mph after police spotted him driving a friend's van without displaying any lights.
Green had been arrested for taking another vehicle without the owner's consent eight days earlier.
Miss Pearson said: "He proceeded through red lights and failed to stop with a number of police cars following him. He used the wrong side of the road, went the wrong way around roundabouts and on two occasions travelled in excess of 70mph.
"He was swerving from side to side and a lorry had to take evasive action because the defendant was on the wrong side of the road."
Green, of Fourth Avenue, Rothwell, was arrested near Methley after he hit a kerb puncturing a tyre.
James Keeley, mitigating, said "a lot of good work" had been done through a community order handed to Green for the vehicle taking offence.
The judge told Green he had driven like an "absolute lunatic" and banned him from driving for three years.
He said: "You were driving in 30mph zones at speeds in excess of 60mph."
Green had admitted dangerous driving.
The full article contains 315 words and appears in Ponte and Cas Express newspaper.
