Video: Dramatic footage of drug-driver's handbrake turn on motorway

We told in this week’s Advertiser how the video filmed from a helicopter made the judge, Recorder Felicity Davies, gasp when it was shown in court.

Driver Thomas Garfitt (29), of Walling Road in Sheffield, failed to stop for officers on April 25 and led them through Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster.

He reached 125mph as he tried to evade officers. He drove through red lights and down the wrong side of the A1 — narrowly missing an oncoming vehicle when he pulled a handbrake turn.

Garfitt was charged with dangerous driving, failing to provide a blood sample and driving while disqualified. 

He was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on May 17 and given 20 months in prison and a driving ban of four years and 10 months.

South Yorkshire Police paid tribute to its roads policing group, which is trained in pursuits and bringing cars to a stop.

Sgt Joe Binley said: “We often find that drivers who fail to stop for us, usually as a routine stop are linked to greater criminality and will go to extreme lengths to avoid speaking to us.

“Throughout a pursuit we are continuously monitoring the risks to the public, the risk to ourselves and the risk to the suspect.

“Our main aim is protecting our communities and to create safer roads across South Yorkshire.

“We want drivers like Garfitt who are willing to pose such a risk off our roads, and I am pleased he has been sentenced to time in prison for his actions.”