A DRUG driver who drove on the pavement past shops during a high speed police chase has been spared an immediate trip to jail.

Brogan Raftree had cocaine and cannabis in his body as he jumped a red light and hit 55mph in a 30mph residential area in wet and near freezing conditions, said Jessica Randell, prosecuting.

The chase had began when police tried to “box” his Ford Fiesta in on Malton Road, York, just past midnight on February 5.

It ended seven miles later when he leapt out of the car as it was still moving and tried to escape on foot.

It was his second encounter with police in two hours.

At 11pm, officers had tried to stop him because he was driving without insurance on New Lane, Huntington, but he had ignored their siren and blue lights and sped off.

They lost contact with him, but he was spotted by another police officer in Malton Road and the pursuit began.

Raftree shook and had difficulty holding back tears in the dock at York Crown Court as Judge Simon Hickey told him: “You are obviously a very decent young man, but you have committed a very serious offence.”

The judge said Raftree could have killed people by his driving and that usually he sent people involved in police chases to jail.

“I am going to take an exceptional course in your case and suspend the sentence but it has been a close run thing.”

He gave Raftree a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months on condition he does 20 days’ rehabilitative activities, and 200 hours’ unpaid work.

He also banned him from driving for two and a half years and made him retake his driving test.

Raftree, 19, of Birch Park, Huntington, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, two charges of drug driving, possessing cannabis found in the car, and driving without insurance.

For him, Keith Whitehouse said he had recently been made redundant.

“It is a classic case of a young man making poor decisions on the night in question,” he said.