A Pembroke man has been banned from the road for 18 months after admitting to narrowly avoiding crashing into a police car.

J’auza James, 20, pleaded guilty to charges that he drove on Montpelier Road, Devonshire, while impaired by alcohol, along with driving in a dangerous manner in the early hours of December 20.

The court heard that at about 3.30am, officers were on mobile patrol on Montpelier Road when they saw a white car turn from Middle Road at high speed, forcing the police car to swerve to avoid a collision.

Daniel Kitson-Walters, for the Crown, said that as the vehicles passed each other, officers saw James behind the wheel before the car sped away towards Frog Lane.

The officers turned around and attempted to pursue James, but lost sight of him.

They drove to the vehicle’s registered address and, while the car was not there, a search of the area found it parked near by with the engine still warm to the touch.

The officers spoke with James and, after noticing that he smelt of alcohol, his eyes were glassy and that he appeared to be unsteady on his feet, arrested him on suspicion of driving while impaired.

While James admitted the offences, he told the court that he was unsteady on his feet because he was flat-footed and that his eyes were glassy because he was tired.

Senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson banned James from driving all vehicles for 18 months.

She further fined James $1,500 for driving while impaired and $1,000 for driving dangerously, ordering that both fines be paid forthwith.

While James asked for time to pay the fines, Ms Anderson said that a message needed to be sent to discourage people from getting behind the wheel after drinking.

Ms Anderson said: “You could have killed yourself. These are very dangerous offences. Police cannot keep up with these types of offences.

“It’s unbelievable that people take a drink, jump in their car and they drive. They hit things. They run from police.”

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