A CONVICTED drug driver who hit a wheelie bin during a police chase has been jailed for four months.

Karl Stafford was banned from driving when he sped off in the Ford Ka he was living in at the time, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Stafford, 31, of Knutsford Grove, Holme Wood, Bradford, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving while disqualified in Idle at 8.30pm on August 5.

He was on a community order imposed in February this year for two offences of driving while under the influence of drugs and one of driving while disqualified, prosecutor Philip Adams said.

The court heard that police on patrol in a marked vehicle on Bradford Road saw the Ford Ka and mistakenly thought it was stolen.

Stafford was ordered to stop but he accelerated away towards Five Lane Ends Roundabout with a female passenger on board.

He went 60mph down Westwood Avenue, which has a 30mph limit and speed humps, Mr Adams said.

Stafford drove straight across a busy junction and lost control of the car on High House Road, mounting the kerb and hitting the wheelie bin.

The vehicle came to a stop and he jumped out and ran off down an alleyway.

The police drove after him and when an officer leapt out to arrest him, Stafford stopped and raised his hands in surrender.

He had previous convictions for an offence under the Malicious Communications Act and dangerous driving, as well as the recent drug driving and driving while disqualified offences.

Stafford’s solicitor advocate, Andrew Walker, conceded that his liberty “was balanced on a knife edge.”

It was a pursuit that lasted just one minute in a vehicle that belonged to the defendant.

Stafford was sofa surfing at the time and living in the car. The vehicle had been seized by the police and disposed of.

Mr Walker said Stafford did not smash into the bin at speed. He was jumping out of the vehicle at the time and it rolled into the bin and came to a stop.

He admitted the offence straight away to arresting officers and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

Stafford was very sorry for his actions that were “on the spur of the moment.”

Mr Walker conceded that the “blue light” police pursuit and the breach of the community order for similar offences made custody almost inevitable.

“Your Honour’s hands are tied and there is an air of inevitably about it,” he said.

Judge Jonathan Gibson jailed Stafford for a total of four months and banned him from driving for two years.