A DRIVER was caught by police speeding at 115mph with a five-year-old child lying unrestrained on the back seat of the car.

Officers carrying out speed checks had to follow Dariusz Parczewski's Mercedes-Benz car for nearly two miles on the A1(M) motorway near Wetherby before they could pull him over.

Parczewski, 26, of Wheatlands Grove, Heaton, failed to turn up for his case at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court yesterday and was convicted in his absence.

At a hearing last month the court was told he had returned to his native Poland for Christmas.

Magistrates were yesterday told officers were carrying out speed checks at 10.55pm on June 6 last year when they spotted Parczewski driving at high speed.

They followed him for two miles during which time he clocked up speeds as high as 115mph.

When they stopped the car, which had foreign plates, the officers went to speak to Parczewski and found the child was lying across the back seat and was not wearing a seat belt.

Magistrates fined Parczewski £600 and banned him from driving for six months by adding six penalty points to the six he already had on his licence.

Bench chairman Alan Wilson said it had been decided there would be no separate penalty for the child not wearing a seat belt.

After the hearing, West Yorkshire-based road safety charity Brake called for tougher penalties to be imposed in such cases.

Its spokesman Dave Nichols said: “This is a shocking case.

"Breaking the speed limit by any amount is a serious offence, but drivers who travel way above the speed limit are taking enormous risks - putting themselves and other road users in grave danger.

"At very high speeds such as 115mph, crashes are much more likely to be fatal and this sort of selfish behaviour warrants strong action.

"It is also extremely shocking and saddening to learn that a small child was put in danger by not wearing a seat belt or being in a correctly-fitted car seat. Seat belts massively reduce the chance of serious injury and death.

"As adults, drivers have an important role to make sure younger generations are both safe and law-abiding. We believe drivers who break the speed limit should face the full force of the law and would welcome stronger sentencing.”

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