A man riding a quad bike illegally on a Bradford road was seriously injured and his passenger sustained a severe head injury when a taxi turned across in front of them, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Louis Titre, 24, was driving dangerously before the collision on Canterbury Avenue, Canterbury, Bradford, in the rush hour on April 20 last year.

Titre, of Stuart Court, Swarland Grove, off Manchester Road, Bradford, was on a Yamaha Raptor bike that is not allowed on public roads in this country, prosecutor Michael Smith said.

He had a previous conviction dating from September 2016 for riding a motorcycle dangerously in Bradford city centre. He caused “mayhem, chaos, fear, and danger” when he rode through busy pedestrianised areas, running a red light and pulling wheelies on Hall Ings and Cheapside.

Titre was sentenced to six-month’s custody, suspended for a year, for that offence and banned from driving for two years.

On Monday, he was back in court to be dealt with for driving dangerously and driving while disqualified.

Mr Smith said that members of the public were shocked by Titre’s driving on Canterbury Avenue. He was doing wheelies and then speeding away.

“It was antisocial riding that would upset the citizens of this city,” Mr Smith said.

The bike then collided with the taxi when it did a U-turn across its path.

The court heard that Titre was not to blame for the accident in which he sustained a badly fractured leg and his passenger suffered a severe injury to his skull.

Titre, who attended court on crutches, was still recovering from the accident and his male friend, who was not named and who did not give a police statement, had since been injured in a dissimilar incident, Mr Smith said.

Ian Howard, Titre’s barrister, conceded that he had previous convictions for drugs offences, theft and damage.

He was originally charged with driving the quad bike while under the influence of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) but the prosecution dropped that charge.

Mr Howard said that medical intervention Titre received after the crash might have affected the blood test.

Titre was still angry that the taxi had pulled across his path and the incident had “clipped his wings.”

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said that Titre was not responsible for the accident but he was guilty of “generally irresponsible and foolish driving” that day.

The police had a problem with nuisance quad bikers in Bradford, with hundreds of machines seized at that time.

Titre was sentenced to ten months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement with the probation service.

He was banned from driving for 12 months.