Boy racer drove at 80mph in 20mph zone
Teen locked up after police chase:
He became trapped in a one-way street
ABOY racer who led police on a dangerous highspeed chase – past a nursery, school and college – has been locked up
Luke Pilkington, 19, reached speeds of up to 80mph in 20mph residential areas in Accrington in a stolen Audi A6, a judge was told.
When he became trapped on a one-way street he came to a ‘very abrupt halt by colliding with a parked works car’ on Royds Street, Burnley crown court heard.
The incident on June 9 this year happened just four weeks after he was given a suspended prison sentence for affray.
Pilkington, of Whalley Road, Accrington, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, handling stolen goods, using a car without insurance – and all while subject to a suspended sentence order.
He was sent to a young offenders’ institute for 18 months and disqualified from driving for 21 months.
Susan Carter, prosecuting, told the court how the Audi A6 had been stolen from a house in Accrington by an unknown offender five days before the incident and sold to Pilkington.
Officers spotted labourer worker Pilkington on Manchester Road in Accrington at 10.10am and when it turned on to Hollins Lane it ‘picked up to somewhat of an excessive speed’.
Miss Carter said: “It’s a residential area and there are three educational establishments – a nursery, school and college – which would all have been operational at that time.
“[The officers] could actually see people in the playground walking around so they were of the view it was a medium risk and started to slow down.”
The court heard Pilkington started to drive the wrong way down a one-way street and, when a car came in the opposite direction, he ‘came to a very abrupt halt and collided with a parked works vehicle’.
Miss Carter said the area where the chase happened ‘had a number of speed bumps’ and an examination of the Audi found ‘damage was caused to the underside of the vehicle because of hitting the speed bumps at excessive speeds’.
Clare Thomas, defending, said Pilkington ‘isn’t able to give an explanation’ why he bought the stolen car or ‘drove in the following manner that he did’.
She told the court he was ‘very immature’, has had problems with alcohol and cannabis and that his ‘only mitigation in his case is his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity’.