A DRUGGED-UP driver who injured four people when he smashed into three vehicles during a high-speed police chase in heavy traffic has been jailed for 16 months.

The case at Bradford Crown Court yesterday prompted Judge Jonathan Rose to again call for the maximum sentence for dangerous driving to be increased from the “woefully inadequate” two years imprisonment.

Ansar Jahangir, 37, led the police on a lengthy blue light chase in the Duckworth Lane area of Bradford when he was uninsured, unlicensed and three times the legal limit for the cannabis-based drug THC.

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He hit a vehicle on Durham Road twice as he tried to force his way past it before crashing into a VW Touran and colliding head-on with Nissan Navara on Smith Lane.

Jahangir, of Duckworth Grove, Bradford, suffered serious injuries, including a spinal fracture and lacerations to his liver. He was not wearing a seatbelt and was found unconscious in the black Toyota Yaris he was driving, prosecutor Christopher Moran said.

Jahangir pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on roads including Fairbank Road, Toller Lane and Daisy Hill Lane on August 21 last year. He also admitted driving when over the limit for Delta-9-tetrahydocannabinol (THC) and driving without insurance or a valid licence.

Mr Moran told the court that Jahangir sped away from police officers on uniformed patrol after nodding and waving to them on Fairbank Road.

After smashing twice into the vehicle on Durham Road, he went up to 50mph in a 30 zone in heavy traffic.

Officers ended the pursuit because it was too dangerous, but another patrol car spotted Jahangir soon afterwards on Duckworth Lane and took up the chase.

A heavily pregnant woman was among the casualties when Jahangir struck the two cars on Smith Lane, Mr Moran said. She and her female companion sustained injuries including bruising, whiplash and a chipped tooth. Another driver suffered pain to his shoulder, knee and back.

Jahangir later stated that his victims might be exaggerating their injuries for “insurance scams,” although his barrister, Gerald Hendron told the court: “He doesn’t seek to persist with that mitigation.”

Mr Hendron said Jahangir had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had no previous convictions for driving offences.

He was a carer for his mother and gave up his time to be a real asset to his community.

Judge Rose told Jahangir: “Your case provides one of the best examples I have seen that two years imprisonment is woefully inadequate for what you have done.”

Unlicensed, uninsured and under the influence of cannabis, Jahangir was “an accident waiting to happen.”

And Jahangir’s guilty plea forced the judge to reduce his sentence by a third, otherwise another court would do it for him.

Judge Rose told Jahangir, who attended court on crutches: “I doubt if anybody has a morsel of sympathy for you.”

Jahangir was banned from driving for five years and eight months.