BRADFORD’S top judge has demanded to know how young drivers in the district are able to hire powerful cars, after locking up a banned teenager who was involved in a high-speed police chase around the city centre.

Hassan Khan, 18, forced one police officer to jump clear and drove towards another one.

He also drove on the pavement, on the wrong side of the road and jumped three red lights before crashing the hired Audi A5 Quattro S-line TDI convertible into a wall.

Khan pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

He was also sentenced for common assault and harassment against a 16-year-old girl he bombarded with texts and drove his car at after their relationship finished.

The girl ended up on the bonnet of Khan's car in one incident and he slapped her, cutting her face, the court heard.

Sentencing Khan, now 19, of Joba Avenue, Leeds Road, Bradford, to a total of 15 months in a young offender institution for the offences, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, said: “In this city, there is real public concern about young men in powerful cars driving dangerously.”

EDITOR'S COMMENT: Too many fast cars fall into the wrong hands​

Bradford Crown Court was told the defendant had been banned from driving for 15 months, for driving under the influence of cannabis and failing to stop after an accident, only five weeks before the incident, which happened at 4pm on Friday, July 8.

Judge Thomas asked the prosecutor which company had loaned the “powerful, attractive and flashy” vehicle to a recently banned teenager.

He said: “I don’t see how anyone can begin to hire this sort of vehicle to this defendant. Extraordinarily, you were able to hire this car, an expensive and powerful convertible. I fail to understand how an 18-year-old young man, who had just been disqualified from driving, could be allowed to hire a vehicle of that size and power.”

Judge Thomas added: “It is a powerful, attractive, flashy vehicle to young men who race around in these things.”

The court heard that Khan was seen driving the Audi the wrong way up Rawson Road. When asked to stop by an officer on foot, he revved up and hared off, forcing the officer to jump clear.

Bradford car hire company boss Naz Khan, who runs Naz’s Car Hire, said rogue car hire firms should be prosecuted, alongside the offending drivers.

Mr Khan told the Telegraph & Argus: “The judge is right. The majority of incidents of dangerous driving and excessive speeding happening in Bradford are being done in hired cars.

“No legitimate insurance company will now cover anyone under the age of 25 in a performance car. I get lads of 18, 19, or 20 coming in every day wanting to hire cars. I tell them ‘no way’.

“There are a number of checks we have to make before we can even talk to people about hiring cars. This reflects badly on legitimate hire companies.

“The people who are hiring the cars need to be brought to justice as well as the driver. The only way they are going to do it is to take the cars off the people hiring them.”

Mr Khan said a lot of performance cars were being hired from companies in the South. An added problem was of legitimate drivers hiring cars for illegitimate ones, he said.

Road safety campaigner Amjad Malik, whose 15-year-old son Saliq, was killed in a high speed crash in Gilpin Street, Barkerend, two years ago, also called for hire companies who flouted the law to be punished.

Mr Malik said: “The police should take the car off the road. The best way to stop it is to penalise the people hiring the cars as well as those driving them, so that they think twice. It is backstreet garages that don’t even check if someone has a licence. They are just interested in the money and aren’t bothered about who they are hiring them to.”

West Yorkshire-based road safety charity Brake said that drivers who flouted bans were making a mockery of the justice system.

Spokesman Lucy Amos said: “It is appalling that this individual was able to hire any vehicle, let alone one of that size and power, with his disqualification. Driving after being banned for driving under the influence of drugs, this selfish individual has shown disregard for the law and the lives of other road users, time after time.

“We need the government to get tough with serial offenders by giving judges the power to hand out higher sentences for those who are repeatedly caught driving while disqualified.”

Bradford East MP Imran Hussain said: “There are serious ongoing concerns regarding dangerous driving in Bradford and it is paramount that we all do as much as we can through a range of initiatives to prevent it. I believe that restricting powerful cars getting into the wrong hands shows real merit as one of many of these initiatives.”

Superintendent Damien Miller, of Bradford District Police, said: “We hope this sends out a warning to people who drive in such a dangerous manner that there are consequences to your actions, and you are likely to go to prison.

“Police and partners take the safety of the public very seriously and are committed to making the roads of Bradford District safer for all. We will continue to work towards this through ongoing operations like Steerside, which has taken more than 400 vehicles off the road and dealt with almost 5,000 motoring offences since its launch.

“Anyone with information about dangerous drivers or dashcam footage can submit this to bd.steerside@westyorkshire.pnn.police.uk. Danger drivers causing an immediate risk to public safety should be reported on 999.”

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