AN UNLICENSED driver span a speeding Mercedes-Benz car into a wall during a late-night police pursuit across Bradford, a court heard today.

Mohammed Arfan panicked when he saw the officers on patrol in the Dudley Hill area of Bradford after midnight because he had bags of cannabis in the car and should not have been driving it.

He sped off up Wakefield Road and, after a short chase, lost control of the vehicle when he swerved on to Bradford Road, prosecutor Camille Morland told Bradford Crown Court.

The Mercedes went into a spin on the Whitehall Road West roundabout and crashed backwards into a wall.

Police blocked Arfan in because they thought he was trying to restart the car, Miss Morland said.

He was arrested and immediately made full admissions, saying he panicked because he had bags of cannabis with him.

Arfan, 27, pleaded guilty at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court to dangerous driving at 12.40am on July 24, driving without a licence and possession of cannabis.

He was committed to the crown court for sentence.

Miss Morland said that during the pursuit, Arfan was travelling at 70mph in a 30mph zone.

The court heard he had no previous convictions and held down a full time job as a manufacturer at the Fox's Biscuits factory in Batley.

Arfan's barrister, James Gelsthorpe, said his client made a series of stupid and reckless decisions that night.

He slowed down to pull over for the police but then panicked and sped off.

He had been entirely open and frank with the police and the probation service, and had led a blameless life before that, with no criminal convictions.

He had been planning to take driving lessons to obtain a licence.

Judge Colin Burn sentenced Arfan, of Mitchell Avenue, Batley Carr, near Dewsbury, to four months' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.

He was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

The judge said it was "a few minutes of madness" caused by the fact that Arfan had cannabis with him in the car that night.