Police capture illegal 130mph road race on camera

Zafar Iqbal was one of three men who reached the breakneck speeds on the A38 before being stopped by a special police task force.

VW Golf driver Amar Paul and Tejinder Bhuee and Iqbal, in Mercedes, hit speeds of up to 134mph heading towards Minworth.

Officers assigned to the Operation Hercules taskforce tracked the three in convoy from their rendezvous point at Tamworth’s Ventura Retail Park at 9.15pm on March 5 along the A453 Sutton Road towards Birmingham.

The race, which started with three blasts of a car horn, saw the men tear through a 30mph zone at 90mph before being intercepted by roads policing officers.

After being stopped, Iqbal is caught on camera telling an officer he thought the speed limit was “70 or 80” on the A38.

But he could not explain why he was driving at almost twice that speed – and began playing with his phone when quizzed further.

Paul, 27, of Berrow Drive in Edgbaston, Bhuee, 24, from Fitzroy Avenue, Harborne, and 33-year-old Iqbal, of Victoria Road, Oldbury, admitted dangerous driving and street racing.

At Birmingham Crown Court today, they were given six-month jail terms suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work.

They were also handed £1,050 in court costs and charges and were told to attend a driver rehabilitation course.

All three were banned from driving for a year and will have to pass an extended re-test in order to get their licences back.

They had each previously been given six-month suspended jail terms and ordered to pay £750 civil court costs for breaching the Birmingham Car Cruising Injunction introduced last year across the city.

Recorder Christopher Tickle said: "In defiance of a court injunction which was put in place in 2016 you engaged in road racing quite deliberately.

"The video captures exactly what happened. It was a damp road."

The men's "manic" driving at speeds of up to 130mph on an empty section of carriageway had been short-lived, the judge added.

Defence barristers told the hearing the men had pulled over as soon as they were able as they entered a section of roadworks.

Marcus Kraehling-Smith, representing Paul and Bhuee, said his clients were hard-working young men who were normally sensible, responsible people.

Frank Dillon, mitigating for Iqbal, told the court the mechanic and MOT tester was driving a Mercedes acquired on finance and had only exceeded the speed limit for a brief period of time.

West Midlands Police Pc Mark Hodson said: “Driving at such speeds, especially in wet conditions, the spray and risk of aquaplaning, even the slightest error would result in a catastrophic collision.

"You can’t just walk away from crashes at that kind of speed.

“All three of these men were of previous good character, law abiding citizens with jobs. The problem we find is that some men seem to think racing like this is not an offence and are blind to the potential consequences.

“At the last hearing a judge told them to expect custodial sentences. Collectively we need to send out a strong message that it’s not acceptable for selfish drivers to use public roads as their own private race tracks and put other motorists in danger.”