A TEENAGER "drove like a complete lunatic" through the centre of a seaside town after stranding his friends at a hotel, York Crown Court heard.
Drew Steven Mattocks, 19, nearly hit a group of pedestrians at one point and at another point he went down a street busy with people leaving pubs and bars, said prosecution barrister Marte Alnaes.
He also drove on the wrong side of the road and the wrong way down one-way streets.
Today the 19-year-old, who will be a father in March, is starting eight months in jail and is banned from the roads for 16 months.
“You could have killed somebody,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told him. “You are so lucky that you didn’t mow someone down. You drove around Scarborough like a complete lunatic.”
Mattocks pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failure to stop when ordered to do so by police, driving without a licence and without insurance and possessing cannabis found in his pocket on his arrest. He was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for 16 months. He must take an extended driving test before driving alone again.
Ms Alnaes said Mattocks, of Hilton Green, Brompton near Northallerton, had travelled to Scarborough with two friends to celebrate one of their birthdays.
They booked into the Grand Hotel, Scarborough on May 14 and spent the evening there drinking.
The court saw CCTV of Mattocks with a man and a woman in a car park at 1am on May 15 before Mattocks drives off alone in the man’s Ford Fiesta with the other two running after him.
A member of the public warned police that a drink driver was in the neighbourhood and as they looked for him, two officers spotted Mattocks driving off in Pavilion Square.
They signalled at him to stop, but he drove off.
“He turned right, drove on the wrong side of the road, turned into a one-way street going into the wrong direction,” said Ms Alnaes.
“He narrowly missed a group of pedestrians at that point.”
After going the wrong way down another street, he drove down St Nicholas’ Street “which was very busy at the time because of the numerous bars and pubs on the street. He narrowly missed other vehicles and pedestrians”, said the prosecution barrister.
He turned out of St Nicholas Street, abandoned the Ford Fiesta and was arrested.
“He is a young man and there is a degree of immaturity,” defence barrister Rhianydd Clement told the court. “He is appalled by his actions. He simply panicked when he saw the officers because he knew he didn’t have a licence and didn’t have insurance.”
Ms Clement said Mattocks had been through a difficult period in his life, but was now close to qualifying as a landscape gardener and start a family.
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