London [UK], April 20: A personal trainer who was taking a woman out on a first date has admitted dangerous driving after a huge crash which followed a police pursuit on the A1 road in England, as well as continuing to get behind the wheel while on bail.
The 20-year-old man appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court where he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop twice and having no licence and no insurance during the crash on April 9, when five police vehicles were badly damaged and seven officers required hospital treatment.
Following his guilty pleas on Saturday, he was granted conditional bail by magistrates ahead of his sentencing next month.
The man was driving a powerful BMW which police initially tried to stop in Swalwell in Gateshead in the north-east of England as a rear light was defective, but he sped away.
He was seen later approaching the A1 and was pursued before the serious collision occurred.
The Iranian-born defendant, from Stanley in County Durham, was granted police bail after he was questioned about the early morning incident on the A1 - during which he told officers his driving had been "shit." And just two days later he was back behind the wheel, driving a red Hyundai on April 11, 12, 13 and 15 to get to work at a gym in Newcastle, despite being warned not to drive and having no licence or insurance.
Police saw him on a garage forecourt filling his vehicle up with fuel and arrested the man before he told them about other times he had driven since the crash.
Simon Worthy, prosecuting, said: "One would have thought as a matter of common sense that having been involved in something of this seriousness, plastered all over the press, the TV, the newspapers, online, that you would have been a bit more sensible about your activities, having been so lucky to get out of an accident only two days before.
"But no, no, you continue to stick two fingers up." Worthy said on the night of the major collision, the man had eventually slowed down after being surrounded by police vehicles, then another unmarked car coming from behind collided with them.
He said: "In the defendant's vehicle was a lady who was on her first date with him." Jack Lovell, defending, said the man worked as a self-employed personal trainer at a gym in Newcastle, did not claim benefits and had no previous convictions.
Source: Qatar Tribune
