No jail for motorcyclist who hit 153mph

A motorcyclist from the Black Country was clocked riding his Kawasaki superbike at 153 mph, overtaking on double white lines as a police officer gave chase, a court heard.

Mechanic Andrew Darren Jones, aged 37, was banned from the roads, but escaped being sent to prison after pleading guilty to dangerous driving during an August bank holiday outing to Wales.

Police following the motorcyclist almost gave up the chase because it was so dangerous, the court was told.

Jones, an HGV maintenance mechanic of Albermarle Road, Kingswinford, was spotted riding his Kaw-asaki ZXR 1000cc motorcycle at "exceptionally high speed" on the main A470 between Trawsfynydd and Ganllwyd — with a speed limit of 60mph — on August 30.

Mr Richard Edwards, prosecuting at Dolgellau magistrates court, said Pc Owain Roberts was on traffic speed control on his unmarked police motorcycle and was only able to catch up with Jones when the defendant entered the village of Ganllwyd which had a 40 mph speed limit.

"The officer had considered stopping the chase for safety reasons. But the police officer felt that he had a public duty to stop the motorcyclist because other motorists could be put in danger," said Mr Edwards.

The court heard Jones had overtaken three vehicles in contravention of double white lines and later during the chase the defendant overtook another line of four cars near the Coed y Brenin Forest Centre junction.

"Once the defendant saw the police motorcyclist behind him in the village, he did pull over," added Mr Edwards. Mr Gareth Evans, defending, said his client wor- ked as a 24-hour Heavy Goods Vehicle mechanic and attended to breakdowns.

"He will lose his job if banned. Having gone through a marriage break-up and still paying the mortgage on the empty family home, my client, a father of two, will be in dire financial difficulty," said Mr Evans.

Jones was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment suspended for 18 months with a six-month supervision order and told to carry out 250 hours unpaid work. He was banned from driving for 30 months.