Britain’s fastest learner driver who led police on a high-speed chase at a staggering 140MPH has been jailed.
Nathan Arnett, 28, was clocked at almost FIVE TIMES the speed limit as he tried to avoid officers in a relative’s high-powered sports car.
The company boss also tore through three red traffic lights and drove on the wrong side of the road during the ten-minute chase through 30mph residential streets in Birmingham on October 23, 2011.
He eventually wrote off the £45,000 BMW 335 when he lost control and crashed through a fence, down a 30ft embankment on to a train track.
He climbed from the wreckage of the black convertible and fled on foot but was later arrested by police.
And on Wednesday, Arnett, from Handsworth, Birmingham, was jailed for 13 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court after her admitted a charge of dangerous driving.
Caging him, Recorder Balbir Singh Bhatia told Arnett it was “nothing short of a miracle” that no-one was killed during the chase.
He added: “You tested the limits of that car in a residential area. This was grossly excessive speed.
“It was sheer good fortune nobody was killed.”
The court heard that Arnett, who runs a company selling alloy wheels, had “panicked“ when a police car pulled up alongside the BMW – as he only had a provisional licence.
Officers could not keep up with him and put his speed at 140mph during the chase in 30mph and 40mph limits.
The police pursuit had started in Newton Road in Great Barr, Birmingham and then continued along the A34 Birmingham Road and into Old Walsall Road, before Arnett crashed the car.
Defending Arnett, Gurdeep Garcha said he was “scared“ when he saw the flashing blue lights of the police car but stressed it was always his intention to drive the BMW back to his home.
Mr Garcha added: “He does not challenge the description of his speed.
“Whether it was 120mph, 130mph or 140mph, it was grossly excessive.
“It was a very expensive and attractive car and the temptation to drive it was too much for him to resist.
“He accepts it was a disgraceful piece of driving in terms of the speed and he knows he is fortunate not to be facing a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.”
