A hospital porter who crashed into a parked BMW while driving without insurance during a police chase has been jailed for six months.

Richard Tokar was ordered to stop after officers on patrol spotted him on a hand-held phone while at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Tokar, 24, of Emerson Avenue, Chellow Grange, Bradford, was taking a call from his mother because his father was suffering a diabetic episode, his solicitor advocate John Bottomley said.

Tokar pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while uninsured and driving on Duckworth Lane, Bradford, while on the phone.

Prosecutor Katherine White said the offences took place shortly after 9pm on October 12 last year.

When the police saw Tokar using the hand-held phone they activated their blue lights or-dering him to stop. But he accelerated off down Duckworth Grove, Smith Lane, Wheat-lands Drive and Toller Lane.

Miss White told the court that Tokar drove on the wrong side of the road, failed to give way and ran a red light at a pedestrian crossing. He reached speeds of 70mph in a 30 zone before losing control of the car and crashing head-on into a parked BMW.

He was arrested from the vehicle and admitted the offences in his police interview. He said he was taking an urgent call from his mother who wanted him to bring a fizzy drink for his ill father.

Tokar said he thought it was better to lose the police vehicle so that he could go and help his father.

He bought the Golf that day and conceded that it was uninsured.

Mr Bottomley said that Tokar had no previous convictions and before this was a man of positive good character.

He was a churchgoer who had been working as a hospital porter. He had lost his job with the employment agency after admitting the offences at the magistrates’ court.

“It was a bad piece of dangerous driving. The defendant accepts that and is deeply ashamed,” Mr Bottomley said.

If Tokar went to prison, it would have a significant impact on his family because of his father’s ill health.

But Recorder Judy Dawson said Tokar had no control of the car that night and it was just a matter of luck whether he collided with an occupied parked vehicle, a motorist or a pe-destrian.

“It was a sustained and bad piece of dangerous driving,” she said.

Despite a heartfelt letter from Tokar’s mother, only an immediate custodial sentence met the justice of the case.

Tokar was banned from driving for two years and three months. His car was forfeited and he must take an extended retest to get his licence back.