A BANNED driver who drove a stolen car at speeds of up to 110mph during a police chase between Felixstowe and Ipswich after a row with his partner has been locked up for 16 months.

Jason Fayers, who has been banned from driving eight times, jumped red traffic lights, cut in between two lorries where one was overtaking the other, and on two occasions tried to trick officers by stopping and then driving off when they approached him, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Experienced traffic officers who witnessed Fayers’s driving described it as “appalling” and said it was some of the worst they had ever seen, said Richard Wood, prosecuting.

Fayers, 30, of Wallers Grove, Ipswich, admitted aggravated vehicle taking by making off in a Toyota Corolla without the owner’s consent and then driving it dangerously, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and breaching a suspended prison sentence.

Jailing him for 16 months and banning him from driving for three years, Judge Rupert Overbury said: “This was an appalling piece of driving and you have an appalling driving record.”

He said that after stealing a car from a driveway in Felixstowe, Fayers had evaded police over a considerable distance, during which he had carried out some “incredible manoeuvres”.

The court heard that Fayers came to the attention of a police officer in Felixstowe in the early hours of November 6 last year after he accelerated away from a junction at speed causing the wheels of the car to spin.

The officer stopped the car and Fayers gave a false name before speeding off.

The vehicle drove along Beatrice Avenue and was followed by a police car with its blue light and siren activated. Fayers stopped in a lay-by, but drove off again when the police officer got out of his car and walked over to him, said Mr Wood. Other officers had joined the pursuit and Fayers was seen to overtake a vehicle and narrowly miss colliding with an oncoming car.

As Fayers approached the A14 dock spur roundabout, he did a 360-degree turn in the road before driving along the A14 towards Ipswich and across the Orwell Bridge at speeds of up to 110 mph.

At one stage he drove between two lorries where one was overtaking the other, and after leaving the A14 at Copdock he jumped two sets of red lights as he headed into Ipswich along London Road.

He then drove across a pavement into Kelly Road. After abandoning the Corolla, he was tracked down by a police dog and arrested.

Simon Gladwell for Fayers said the offences happened after Fayers had stormed off after a row with his partner.

He said Fayers had been addicted to heroin but had been trying to turn his life around.