A Mirfield dad who was involved in a police pursuit on Christmas Day morning has been jailed for seven months.

Jason Phelan, 27, who had previous convictions for driving offences, was spotted behind the wheel of a former girlfriend’s VW Polo in Cleckheaton, but instead of pulling over for the police he drove off at speed towards Bailiff Bridge where he “jumped” the red lights at a junction with Bradford Road.

Prosecutor Nicholas Worsley told Bradford Crown Court today that the Polo was pursued by police vehicles along various roads until Phelan opened the driver’s door of the car and jumped out while it was still moving.

The court heard that the vehicle continued out of control onto the pavement and collided with an electricity sub station and a wall.

Phelan, of Kitson Hill Road, tried to flee the scene by running across a field and through gardens, but he was eventually detained and handcuffed.

Phelan accepted being the driver, but claimed he had forgotten to put the handbrake on when he was trying to park the car.

Read more:

Read more:

The court heard that Phelan had previous convictions for offences including driving while disqualified.

His lawyer Tom Rushbrooke described Phelan’s actions as very foolish and said he had pleaded guilty to the dangerous driving offence back in March.

Mr Rushbrooke said Phelan had worked hard to get his driving licence back after his previous offending and he now realised that he had thrown all that away.

Judge Jonatna Durham Hall QC said Phelan had shown “ a grossly irresponsible attitude” towards driving in the past.

The judge said the incident when Phelan had driven through a red light was every driver’s fear.

“You did that, but fortunately no-one was hurt,” the judge told him.

“The police clearly saw you bail out of the moving car which proceeded on its way and crashed into the sub-station.”

Phelan was banned from driving again for two years and he will have to take an extended retest at the end of the disqualification.

“You have to stop driving in this way ... somebody’s going to get killed,” the judge told him.