Crash driver in police search is spared prison
A MOTORIST who prompted a police search involving dogs and a helicopter has avoided jail.
Thomas Edward Moss, 21, crashed his car into another while leaving a pub car park on Boxing Day, a court heard.
He then fled from police before making his escape on foot, prosecutors claimed.
When police finally caught up with him he lied, denying he was the driver, magistrates heard.
Moss, of Macclesfield Road, Eaton, admitted failing to stop at the scene of an accident, failing to stop for a police constable and wilfully obstructing police at Stockport magistrates’ court.
Magistrates expressed ‘serious concerns about the nature’ of the offences and ordered a probation report which included the option of custody.
Moss, who works on his family’s farm, was given 250 hours unpaid work.
Mark Angus, prosecuting, said the incident started the Dog Inn at Peover on December 26 when the driver of a VW Polo saw Moss clip her car with his VW Polo.
He said: “The owner saw him drive away from the pub towards a lane and called the police. A patrol picked up the vehicle on an unsealed road towards Hillmoor Farm. The driver failed to stop and increased his speed reaching 40mph on an unmade, potholled track. The car then collided with a huge pile of bark. Two males exited. The officer followed one of the males but lost him. The helicopter and a dog patrol was used in the search but unable to locate the defendant.”
Mr Angus said the defendant then sent false information to the police claiming he left the car insecure at the pub with the keys left inside.
He said: “Witnesses claimed he had been drinking during the course of the evening and was eight out of 10 in drink. The prosecution argue he acted to avoid the opportunity to be breathalysed.”
Hayley Bennett, defending, said there was no proof Moss had was drink driving.
She said: “We don’t accept that he was drunk. He had two pints with a meal and clipped the car. He was reversing and saw the clip but thought it was a lot of fuss about nothing.”
Ms Bennett pleaded with magistrates not to ban Moss, who was convicted of drink driving in 2015, because it would ‘ruin his life’ by preventing him driving tractors. But magistrates banned him from driving for 12 months.