A DRIVER who drove at 152 mph on bare tyres through North Yorkshire has been jailed.

When police first spotted Richard James Joyce, 40, he was driving a BMW at more than 100 mph on the A1(M) southbound carriageway, York Crown Court heard.

Officers recorded him speeding up to 152 mph as he headed for and passed the junction of the A1(M) and M1 at Bramham.

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC said Joyce had had a vehicle capable of “eye watering performance that he was prepared to use until he realised it was a police car (behind him).

“It doesn’t seem to me you have a proper appreciation of the dangers you created for road users.

“The appropriate punishment for anyone who drives at 150 mph on the A1 can only be an immediate prison sentence.”

He jailed Joyce for six months and banned him from driving for two years and three months.

Joyce, of South Meade Maghull, Sefton, Liverpool, has already served six months of the driving ban since he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and having tyres with insufficient tread.

He will have to take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

At a special hearing, Joyce alleged that he thought the car behind him had Liverpudlian gangsters in it who had threatened him in the past.

But after hearing him give evidence and police evidence that Joyce had made no reference to being under threat when he did stop, the judge dismissed his claim.

For Joyce, Julian Nutter said: “He is a rough and ready individual” who had not caused an accident.

As soon as he realised it was a police car behind him he had stopped and he had not driven since pleading guilty.