Charlie Foster was jailed for 20 months after a Range Rover chase that began near the County Ground Hotel in Swindon and ended with his arrest near Coleshill in Oxfordshire. At Swindon Crown Court on August 7, the 20-year-old admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.
The sentence also brought a four years and 10 months driving ban, and his vehicle was seized. The case centred on a black Range Rover that police said was of interest because it could have been driven by a disqualified driver.
Swindon Crown Court on August 7
Foster, of Lansdown Road in Faringdon, had already been charged and remanded into custody before he appeared in court. His guilty pleas meant the sentencing hearing dealt with the full package of penalties in one sitting: custody, disqualification and seizure of the vehicle.
PC Beales said: "Foster’s actions were incredibly dangerous and it is incredibly fortunate that there were no serious injuries." He also said: "He put officers, other road users and himself in significant danger and I’m pleased he’s been given a custodial sentence."
County Ground Hotel in Swindon
The chase began on July 10 when Foster failed to stop for police blue lights near the County Ground Hotel in Swindon. Police said the black Range Rover mounted the nearside verge, drove along a footpath, re-entered the carriageway at the junction with Greenbridge Retail Park in Swindon and crashed into another vehicle before accelerating away.
From there, police said, the driving became more hazardous. The vehicle went the wrong way around roundabouts, drove through red lights and dived in and out of traffic as it moved from Swindon towards Oxfordshire.
Coleshill in Oxfordshire
A stinger was deployed and the Range Rover’s two front tyres were punctured. Foster decamped as he approached Coleshill in Oxfordshire and was arrested at taser point, bringing the pursuit to an end after the vehicle had crossed from one county into another.
The ending matters because the court outcome now leaves Foster off the road for years, his vehicle taken away and the dangerous-driving conviction on record. The unanswered point in the police account is the basis on which the black Range Rover first drew attention as a possible disqualified-driver vehicle.
