dangerous, Magistrates' Court heard on Tuesday.

Disqualified driver Brenton Jerome Harris, 22, raced away from Hamilton and through Paget, reaching speeds of up to 8O kph and taking bends on the wrong side of the road as sparks flew from his exhaust, the court heard.

Sgt. Wilbert McLean, prosecuting, said that around 3 a.m. on May 19, officers in a Police car saw Harris on a blue Yamaha on King Street, Hamilton. They stopped him on Crow Lane, where he gave the officers a false name.

Harris then made off, said Sgt. McLean, with Police giving chase. At Dunscombe Road in Warwick, they gave up because it was too dangerous. Harris, of Wellman Lane, Warwick, was arrested on May 22.

He admitted driving without a licence, failing to stop when requested by Police, making false statements, driving dangerously and driving while disqualified. He was fined $1,400 and banned for a further three years, until April, 1998.

An 18-year-old Pembroke man escaped from custody while Police were searching for cannabis, Magistrates' Court heard.

Olatunji Gardiner, of East Gate Lane, was arrested by patrol car officers on Court Street on September 8 last year, said Sgt. Wilbert McLean, prosecuting.

They searched the rear seat of the car and found a small cigarette containing 0.08 grams of cannabis, but while they were doing so Gardiner ran off.

He later gave himself up, and when charged said: "I was never told I was under arrest.'' In court Gardiner admitted possessing cannabis and escaping custody. He was fined $250.