A BANNED driver who tore along streets of Solihull and Birmingham at speeds reaching 115mph has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Kamar Farooq of Aston Lane, Aston, travelled at almost four times the legal limit – at times on the wrong side of the road – before crashing the £85,000 BMW M3 into a traffic island and careering into a car at a petrol station.
West Midlands Police patrol officers became suspicious when they spotted Farooq behind the wheel of the car in Washwood Heath Road on September 23 last year – but when they tried pulling it over the 30-year-old sped away.
After the collision in Chester Road, Castle Bromwich, Farooq jumped into the backseat alongside two other men and claimed to have been a passenger.
All three were arrested but officers managed to secure CCTV footage earlier that night showing the driver wearing clothes matching that of Farooq’s when he was arrested.
Farooq denied being the driver at Birmingham Crown Court and was convicted and jailed for dangerous driving and getting behind the wheel while disqualified; he was also given a ten-year driving ban.
PC Robert Lattimer, from the roads policing unit at Chelmsley Wood, said: “This was reckless driving by someone who should not have been behind the wheel.
“Officers had suspicions around the vehicle and tried to pull it over; but Farooq failed to stop and hit speeds of 115mph in 30mph zones.
“He tried to deny being the driver despite our investigations which secured such strong evidence against him.
“This was a high performance vehicle and the outcome could have been much worse. He now faces a long time behind bars rather than behind the wheel of a car.”
