Woodhouse Road, Keighley. Picture: Google Streetview. The police helicopter was scrambled in the chase.
A VAN driver who “set off like a rocket” at the start of a two-mile police chase around Keighley has been spared an immediate prison sentence.
Richard Smith reached speeds of 70mph in the heavily smoking vehicle, narrowly avoiding pedestrians, smashing into a boulder and tilting it over on a bank.
He then fled on foot and was tracked by officers on foot and the police helicopter, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.
Smith, 31, of Eaton Street, Keighley, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on April 14 last year and driving uninsured and without a licence.