An "arrogant little man" who thinks he's a "brilliant" driver has been jailed for a high speed journey that could have ended in tragedy, York Crown Court heard.

Paul Westoby, 29, smashed into two trees and a lamp-post when he clipped a kerb, said Jade Edwards, prosecuting. Debris flew as his car was broken into pieces and the wheels fell off.

He was driving a souped-up Volvo C30 with a bald tyre at high speed in such a way one motorist pulled over so that he could be overtaken safely and a 16-year-old dog walker was left shaking in terror.

He was cannabis driving and he had previous convictions for drug driving and dangerous driving.

Read more about Westoby's previous drug driving here 

"You are fortunate you are not in that dock accused of causing death by dangerous driving," the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told him.

"You are someone that likes to drive fast. You get a thrill out of it.

"You are an arrogant little man. Everyone was put at risk by you and you didn't care.

"You are going to be off the road for a long time. You are not fit to be behind the wheel. You may think you are a brilliant driver, but you are not."

Westoby, of Langley Drive, Norton, was jailed for six months. He was banned from driving for three years and three months and ordered to take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, drug driving, driving with a defective tyre and failure to attend an earlier court hearing.

Caroline Abraham, mitigating, said Westoby accepted it was "pure fortune" no-one else was injured.

He himself had suffered spinal and leg injuries in the crash that needed surgery and put him in hospital for seven weeks.

"He has to live with the ongoing consequences of his decision (to drive). In some way that is a punishment for him," she said.

He has also suffered a recent family bereavement.

Ms Edwards said Westoby stormed along the single carriageway country stretch of the B1258 near West Knapton near Pickering at 5.30pm on April 29, 2021. He was so fast that a passenger in a car he overtook was startled into an expletive.

In the 30mph stretch of Lady Edith's Drive, Scarborough, a winding road, he was swerving across the lanes like a racing driver warming up his tyres.

Another motorist seeing he would "overtake regardless of whether it would be safe" pulled over to give him room, said Ms Edwards.

As the young dog walker watched, he went into a bend too fast and out of control and clipped the kerb.

The Volvo's rev counter stuck at 2,500.

Police later established the bend could be taken safely at up to 50 mph.