A judge has hit out at the “huge anomaly” in sentencing powers as a teenage dangerous driver walked free from court.

Michael Gledhill, 18, drove at twice the speed limit, caused two other vehicles to take evasive action, drove through a red light, and mounted a pedestrian island, demolishing a bollard, as he fled police at high speed through the streets of Bradford.

Recorder Martin Bethel QC said it was “about as serious a case of dangerous driving as you can imagine” and he was “seriously tempted” to send Gledhill immediately to custody.

The judge said any “right-thinking member of society, on hearing what you had done, would probably think you deserved to be sent away for a number of years. But I can’t do that.”

Recorder Bethel said: “I do not understand, and haven’t understood for a long time, why Parliament thinks it’s right there should be a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment for causing death by dangerous driving – and yet the maximum sentence for dangerous driving is only two years. I think there’s a huge discrepancy.

“I don’t understand why, if courts are required to take such a serious view of dangerous driving, they should be so constrained.”

Prosecutor Stephen Uttley said police, on patrol in Leeds Road, Bradford, just before midnight on March 21, saw a Peugeot car come on to the main road at such a speed it ended up on the opposite carriageway.

Gledhill was driving. The car owner, a banned driver, was the passenger. The officers pursued the Peugeot, which was driven at 60mph in a 30mph limit.

Mr Uttley said one vehicle had to brake harshly to avoid a collision as the Peugeot was driven from a side road back into Leeds Road. Another driver was forced to pull his vehicle over.

The Peugeot reached 70mph before finally slowing down. The driver and passenger fled on foot but Gledhill was found hiding in bushes.

His barrister, Bronia Hartley, said Gledhill, of Geraldton Avenue, Bolton, Bradford, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving without insurance or a licence, would say it was simple, blind panic. He had been immature, impulsive and stupid.

Recorder Bethel said if Gledhill had killed someone he would have received a sentence of at least five years.

The judge said that nine months youth custody was the appropriate sentence, given his age, guilty plea and lack of previous convictions for bad driving, but he had decided to suspend that for 12 months.

He said: “Statistics show that people who go away for short sentences are most at risk of committing further offences. You would simply be liable to mix with more sophisticated criminals and come out worse than when you went in.”

Gledhill was also ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid community work, with 12 months supervision including attendance at a thinking skills programme. He was banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to take an extended driving test.