A Selston motorist who drove at 78 miles per hour through Nottingham City Centre has avoided jail after admitted dangerous driving. Jack Sherwood, 26, of Gill Street, Selston, was handed a three year driving ban and an eight month prison sentence, suspended for two years, by Judge Nirmal Shant KC, the Recorder of Nottingham, at Nottingham Crown Court.
Sherwood was driving one of three cars involved in street racing at 9.45 pm on 7 September last year. Response officers on patrol saw his car come around a bend from Queen’s Road onto London Road “at such speed that it lurched to the passenger side”, police said.
When the officers activated their blue lights, the other two cars pulled over but Sherwood sped away, accelerating through red lights and continuing to pull away from the police vehicle which was travelling at 70 mph.
Sherwood’s car cut a corner into a bend and narrowly avoiding a cyclist in Meadow Lane. Police called off the pursuit for safety concerns and the vehicle was last seen heading onto Lady Bay Retail Park. They had gathered enough information to launch an investigation and quickly identified Sherwood as the driver.
The streets where he reached such high speeds had a 30 MPH limit.
“Sherwood showed a complete disregard for the safety of other road users when he sped through a built-up area in such a reckless manner”, Sergeant Joe Hunt, of Nottinghamshire Police, said. “Thankfully no one was injured by Sherwood’s display of driving that evening, but that is no thanks to him.
“We take the problem of car cruising, people meeting to race vehicles and associated antisocial behaviour very seriously across the force. We know this is an issue which has a negative impact on our communities and regularly carry out proactive enforcement and engagement work in hotspot areas of Nottinghamshire, including the south of the city where this incident took place. “The message is clear. We will not tolerate people who break the law by driving vehicles in a manner that puts other road users, and themselves, at risk of serious injury or death.”
