Unlicensed youth crashed Mini when police turned up at Chesterfield drug deal

Michael Pettinger’s girlfriend had loaned him the car however the Clubman actually belonged to her sister, Chesterfield Magistrates Court heard.

Magistrates were told Pettinger,22, had given a friend a lift in the car from Killamarsh to Grangewood - where he hoped to pick up some cannabis.

However, prosecutor Becky Allsop described how on the same day – October 21 – police were called out to an incident at Broadgourse Close in Grangewood involving “a number of males fighting”.

She said: “An officer saw a Mini Clubman leaving without its lights turned on - he put the police car across the junction with its emergency lights illuminated.

“The vehicle mounted the pavement and sped off - the officer heard on the radio the vehicle had continued towards West Bars roundabout and crashed into a barrier.”

“There was substantial damage to the vehicle and roadside furniture.

“Two passengers had run off and during a search two males were found hiding in the bushes.”

During a police interview Pettinger admitted driving the car with only a provisional licence to collect some pot.

However he panicked and drove off when a completely unrelated fight broke out in the street.

Pettinger’s solicitor Nadine Wilford said he was given permission to drive the car by his girlfriend however he felt like an “idiot” for allowing himself to be “pressured” into driving.

She said Pettinger, the sole carer for his elderly grandmother, “cannot believe his actions that day”.

The defendant, of Ashley Close, Killamarsh, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, failing to stop, driving unlicensed and uninsured.

A magistrate told him: “Your actions were foolish and you showed a level of immaturity - you caused an accident and evaded the police.”

He was handed a 12-month community order with 10 rehabilitation activity days, 160 hours unpaid work and a one-year driving ban.