Police blocked his path at a Costa Coffee drive thru - but he didn't want to stop
A disqualified driver who rammed a police car at a Costa Coffee drive thru was jailed today (Thursday). Officers stopped a Transit Van, with cloned plates, which was being driven by Andrew Smith, at the Dobshill coffeehouse, in September this year.
They blocked the van in with a squad car when it was at the front of the queue, but Smith drove the van at the police vehicle and smashed into it. He then revved the engine to try and move the damaged car out of the way, before fleeing on foot.
He got away, but was later traced by police and arrested, Mold Crown Court heard. Smith, 35, of Main Road, Broughton, Flintshire admitted dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and without insurance, failing to stop when required by a constable and failure to report a road accident he was involved in.
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Simon Parry, prosecuting, said as a sergeant went to detain Smith "the defendant had driven at speed towards the police vehicle, colliding with the front near side and causing significant damage".
He added: "Because the police car was blocking his path, he continued to rev the engine to move the police car out of the way and then the driver got out of the vehicle and made off on foot." This resulted in a short foot chase.
The vehicle was seized and its identity number checked, which came back as a different Ford Transit van, linked to the defendant. Smith had 35 convictions for 22 offences, which were mainly drugs-related, the court heard.
He had been disqualified from driving for 46 months, at the time of the incident, for two offences in 2021. Defending, Myles Wilson, said it was a brief incident of dangerous driving, and he entered an early guilty plea.
He was a working man and it was suggested he could benefit from engaging with the probation service, which would reduce the risk of him "making theses sort of stupid impulsive decisions". Smith also looked after three members of his family.
Judge Rhys Rowlands said, because of the severity of the case, he could not suspend the sentence and jailed him for 12 months. "You were taking a deliberate decision to take a risk causing danger to others, in order to get away from the police," the judge said.
Smith had also been before the courts multiple times, with repeated breached court orders, Judge Rowlands said, with terms in prison for dishonesty and the supply of drugs. He was also disqualified from driving for a further 30 months and will have to take an extended retest.
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