A DISQUALIFIED driver has been locked up for speeding through a pelican crossing and forcing a pedestrian to leap out of the way to avoid being struck.

Bradford Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of the incident, on September 7 last year, when Amjid Aziz overtook a line of traffic and was forced to swerve to miss the man “by inches” as he crossed Bradford Road in Keighley.

The court heard that Aziz, 40, of Devonshire Street, Keighley, had previous convictions for motoring offences including drink-driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving, for which he received a four-and-a-half-year ban.

In jailing Aziz for eight months Mr Recorder Andrew Latimer said his previous conviction for dangerous driving “sets the scene” for what happened more recently when he borrowed a car despite knowing he was banned from driving.

Prosecutor Esther Bukoye said Aziz overtook a long line of stationary traffic waiting at a red light on a pelican crossing and drove “at speed” as a man walked across the middle of the road, narrowly missing him.

As he drove through the crossing and approached a nearby junction other drivers, who had noticed the manner in which he was driving, followed him and took photographs.

They were subsequently passed on to the police and Aziz was later identified. In an interview he answered “no comment” to all questions.

He later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, and driving with no insurance.

Mitigating, Ian Hudson said Aziz had not offended since 2018 and asked the court to “stand back” from an immediate jail sentence for the incident of dangerous driving, which had lasted “a matter of seconds”.

Recorder Latimer told Aziz, who had been ordered to pass an extended re-test after his last conviction but had failed to do so, that he was a danger to the public.

Referring to last year’s incident he said: “You overtook a line of stationary vehicles in an urban area. The reason they were stationary was because they were waiting to cross a pedestrian crossing when the light had gone red.

“You drove at speed past the vehicles and through the red light. The man was crossing and he was forced to literally jump out of the way with you swerving the vehicle slightly to left and right.

“You missed that man by a matter of inches.

“At the time you were disqualified and had no insurance. You shouldn’t have been behind a wheel that day at all.

“This was deliberate driving which very nearly led to a serious collision with a pedestrian.”

He sentenced Aziz to eight months for dangerous driving plus six weeks for driving whilst disqualified, to be served concurrently, disqualified him from driving for 30 months, and ordered him to pass the existing re-test. His licence was also endorsed.