Uninsured driver was living in her vehicle

SHE DROVE WRONG WAY ROUND ROUNDABOUT IN POLICE CHASE

A WOMAN drove dangerously as she was pursued by police because she did not want to lose the car she was living in.

Vicky Arnold feared the Vauxhall Astra, which was doubling as her home, would be impounded, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

So when a police PCN alert flagged her car as “due to be off-road and uninsured”, they moved in to stop the driver.

Footage was played in court of her driving in Hucknall with police following her, their sirens blazing.

Arnold, who has never held a full driving licence, drove the wrong way round a roundabout, and overtook vehicles in one move.

She headed along Edgewood Drive, Nabbs Lane, Robin Hood Drive, Norman Drive, then back on to Robin Hood Drive and Edgewood Drive, before travelling along Willow Avenue and Shaw Crescent.

The chase ended on October 12, 2019, when she reversed into two police cars – one was left with minimal damage of £10 and one vehicle more seriously damaged and costing more than £1,000 to repair.

During police interview, Arnold admitted the offences.

She was not charged until October 2020, explained Luc Chignell, prosecuting.

Arnold pleaded guilty on February 8 and was bailed but she drove dangerously again.

This time she had a passenger with her on July 21 this year.

This was a “shorter incident”, said Mr Chignell, and on similar roads in the north of the city. She drove at excessive speed and ignored bollards. She was arrested shortly afterwards following a chase on foot.

Arnold had been disqualified in 2003 and never completed the requirement of an extended retest.

Aged 39 and from Annesley Road, Hucknall, she has previous convictions dating from 2003 to 2009, but no driving convictions since 2009.

Digby Johnson, representing her, said she had lived a highly unusual life. There have been times when it has been “absolutely awful”.

By the ages of 16, 17 and 18 years, she started to move with a group of teenagers and some ended up in court. Arnold spent four years in prison for selling drugs. Mr Johnson said: “In October 2019 she was driving away because she wanted them (the police) not to take the car from her. She was not insured and she was very keen to keep that car, because she was living in it.

“So when officers came behind her, she was fearful she was going to lose her home. That is not a piece of

When officers came behind her car, she was fearful she was going to lose her home

Digby Johnson

mitigation I have been able to advance very often.”

He referred to a police officer’s commentary on her driving, where the officer is heard on the recording saying, “medium risk”, “20mph” and “low risk”.

“So we have him saying, ‘no pedestrians, no other traffic,’” said Mr Johnson. “The other piece of dangerous driving is desperately short.” She pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, having no insurance, and two charges of criminal damage.

The judge banned her from driving for two years, and imposed 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. She was ordered she go on a “thinking skills programme” and complete six rehabilitation activity days.