A speeding Audi S3 driver who crashed into a taxi during a police pursuit has been jailed for eight months.

Shezad Idres was banned from driving and uninsured when he smashed into the vehicle and a garden wall, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Idres, 28, of Syringa Avenue, Sandy Lane, Bradford, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in the hire car at 3.15 in the morning on December 1, 2019.

He also admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Prosecutor Syam Soni said the police were alerted to the Audi when it failed to give way to their vehicle after it had left Bradford city centre.

Idres accelerated away at double the 30mph speed limit and went round a blind bend on the wrong side of the road.

He was pursued along Parkside Road before swerving and losing control of the car near Asda on Rooley Lane.

Mr Soni said Idres crashed into the driver’s side of the taxi and then hit a garden wall. He ran off but fell down and was apprehended clutching the Audi key.

“You might say he was caught red-handed,” Mr Soni said.

The court heard that Idres was a disqualified driver at the time after being convicted of driving with excess alcohol.

The taxi driver was treated in Bradford Royal Infirmary for back, shoulder and knee in-juries. His vehicle was written off leaving him £4,900 out of pocket.

Idres had a previous conviction for theft dating back to 2015 the court was told.

His barrister, Shufqat Khan, said the Audi was a hire car and Idres had to pay the com-pany a £2,000 insurance claim shortfall.

He was a hard-working father of two young children who worked as a customer team leader for a furniture business.

Mr Khan said he had let down his wife and family and was genuinely remorseful.

It was a one-off incident from a man who usually led a law-abiding life and the court could suspend the inevitable jail sentence.

But Recorder Jonathan Sandiford QC said the message must go out that drivers who tried to outrun the police would be jailed.

Too many young men in high-powered cars engaged in police pursuits in Bradford, the recorder said.

“The message is that if you are signalled to stop by the police, you must do so,” he told Idres.

He was banned from driving for 16 months and until he takes an extended retest.