Birmingham man jailed for dangerous driving in Warwickshire

He was caught driving almost double the speed limit on some roads.

Author: Ben CartwrightPublished 19th Jan 2024

A man has been jailed and banned from driving after police chased him for more than ten minutes.

Tariq Zaman of Medlicott Road in Birmingham has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for dangerous driving.

The 42-year-old is also required to pay a victims’ surcharge of £156 and has been disqualified from holding a driving license for 34 months and until an extended competence test has been passed.

On 21 July 2022 at around 11:45pm, following a request to stop by an officer, Zaman pretended to comply before launching his Peugeot 407 Estate at high speeds through Kenilworth.

During nearly ten minutes of a chase through Kenilworth towards Balsall Common, the driver drove on the wrong side of the road at high speeds; swerved to avoid oncoming traffic; and visibly nearly lost control of the vehicle at various points.

At one point, Zaman hit speeds of 68mph in the 30 zone outside of a primary school on Clinton Lane in Kenilworth; at another, he hit 80mph in a 40 on Birmingham Road towards Balsall Common.

When Zaman took a turn down the wrong side of the A452 dual carriageway, police had to pursue on a parallel road to reduce risk to other road users.

Zaman then took a wrong turn onto a building site and ended up confronted with a closed road, at which point he jumped out of the car and attempted a cross-country escape.

He was found not long afterwards perching on a pile of rubble nearby, inside an empty shell of a building.

During his arrest, Zaman asked officers “What did you think of my driving?”

On being told it was poor, Zaman (who less than 30 minutes before had been hurtling the wrong way down the A452 with very little control of his vehicle) asked “Why was it poor?”.

On 17 January 2024, Tariq Zaman was sentenced to 20 months in prison for dangerous driving at Warwick Crown Court.

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