Car chase after driver refuses to stop for cops

Police were forced to give chase when Foster refused to stop

During the pursuit through Grangemouth on April 11 Foster hit speeds of 65 miles an hour in a 30 limit, ignored give-way signs and failed to stop at junctions.

In an effort to get away, he drove his car across a grass verge and footpath before coming to a halt after hitting a wall.

At Falkirk Sheriff Court on May 11 Foster was jailed for eight months and banned for four years and six months after admitting dangerous driving, failing to stop for police and driving without a licence or insurance.

Sheriff Derek Livingston said: “Given the way you drove and put the public in jeapardy, there is no alternative to a custodial sentence. You put the population in considerable danger.”

Procurator fiscal depute Graham McLachlan told the court: “At around 7.15pm, police were drawn to the vehicle by the manner in which it was being driven. They activated their blue lights and siren to get the driver’s attention but that led to a pursuit during which his speed hit around 65 miles an hour.”

The court was told the incident started in Newlands Road and finished at Bowhouse Road when Foster mounted the verge and footpath and collided with the wall of a house.

Defence lawyer Willie McIntyre said Foster (44), from 9 Spey Court, Grangemouth, had borrowed his partner’s car that night.

He said: “After working all day he got a phone call from a friend about an application for a job. It was a chance of a lifetime for him and he wanted to complete it that day. He was driving to his friend’s house when the police saw him and wanted him to stop, but he drove home.

“He knew he had no licence or insurance, but was not thinking about what he was doing and cannot believe how foolish he was. He can’t believe the predicament he finds himself in. He knows he should have pulled over.

“It was a very bad piece of driving and he clearly regrets his actions, but he says it was not a crash, it was a very minor bump when he stopped urgently and got out.”

Foster will have to re-sit his test when he is released.