Scarborough driver hit speeds of 100mph in a 30 zone

John Leonard Frame, 40, of Victoria Road, Scarborough, bombed down trunk roads and country lanes, overtook on blind bends and shot through red lights at such high speeds that police struggled to keep up and at one stage abandoned the pursuit.

Four police vehicles and the force helicopter had to be deployed during the 25-minute chase between York and Selby.

Motorists had to take evasive action to avoid a crash as Frame went the wrong way around traffic islands and repeatedly drove on the wrong side of the road in a Ford Galaxy he had taken without the owner’s consent, York Crown Court heard.

The chase began on the A64 near York and ended on the outskirts of Selby where police finally brought the car to a stop by bursting its front tyre with a stinger device and boxing it in.

In the front passenger seat was a “terrified” woman with a dog, said prosecutor Lucy Brown.

It’s understood Frame failed a roadside drug test and cocaine was found in his system, though he was not charged with being over the prescribed limit.

He admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop, aggravated vehicle-taking, driving while disqualified and without insurance and appeared for sentence on Tuesday July 3.

Ms Brown said that during the chase in the early hours of June 11, Frame hit speeds of up to 100mph in 30mph and 40mph zones, shooting straight over blind junctions and going the wrong way around roundabouts.

Police laid a stinger in the village of Hambleton, but despite bits of his tyre falling off, Frame stepped on the gas as the chase continued along the A63 towards Monk Fryston.

The Galaxy’s front tyre came off completely as Frame turned onto a country lane, where two police vehicles managed to box him in at about 1.40am. He had taken the car from his step-father’s home in Filey before setting off on his 50-mile journey.

The court heard that Frame had 52 previous convictions for 155 offences, including 32 driving-while-disqualified matters. He also had three previous convictions for dangerous driving.

In May – about four weeks before the police chase – he received a 22-week suspended prison sentence for unlawfully taking the same car, resulting in yet another driving ban. The offences in June were in breach of that sentence.

Frame said he “panicked” after police gave chase and said the woman in the passenger seat was a family friend.

Judge Simon Hickey slammed Frame for his “appalling” driving and shocking, 23-year criminal record.

He said it was “just extraordinary luck” that nobody was killed. Frame was given a four-year driving ban in addition to the 18-month jail term.