Police chase 80mph learner driver
A YOUNG driver who got behind the wheel of his new car for the first time found it was a short-lived pleasure.
Less than half an hour later Thorne man Luke Albert Poulston was under lock and key after the learner was involved in a police car chase where he reached 80mph - double the speed limit.
The 20-year-old, who was two weeks away from taking his driving test, had also drunk about five pints of beer before his decision to drive home from a friend's house in the early hours of the morning, a court heard.
The judge at Doncaster Crown Court told Poulston he had avoided an immediate custodial sentence "by the skin of your teeth" for offences of dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol last November, which he admitted.
Poulston, a power station worker, of Haynes Road, was sentenced to nine months in a young offenders' institution, suspended for 18 months, and must complete 100 hours of unpaid community work. He was also disqualified from driving for two years.
A police patrol was cruising through Moorends just after 5am when a Vauxhall Cavalier emerged from Newfield Drive without lights on and when the police put their blue lights on it failed to stop and accelerated up to 80mph on Marshland Road, said Carl Fitch, prosecuting.
It was going so fast the rear end was swinging violently and at a crossroads it went straight across without slowing down before coming to a stop in Littlewood Road where the driver jumped out and fled. Poulston was chased on foot and found hiding in the garden of his home.
The officers smelled drink on his breath and he was found to be more than double the alcohol limit.
Ian Goldsack, defending, said he had been "significantly chastened by the experience" which happened because he panicked when the police activated their sirens.
Poulston had just bought the car for 250 and it had been delivered to the driveway of a friend's house where he had gone for a night out and planned to stay the night.
But after an argument he decided to leave the party and foolishly decided to drive home.
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