A dangerous driver who went the wrong-way up the A40 slip road before ditching his car and fleeing across fields had been knocked down by a car as a schoolboy, a court heard.

Numaan Khan was behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Corsa when he made off from the police on January 4, Oxford Crown Court heard on Tuesday (February 14).

The chase lasted barely 90 seconds.

Khan, 26, drove the wrong-way up the A40 slip road near Oxford but abandoned his car on the hard shoulder then fled the scene on foot.

He was eventually Tasered by the pursuing police officers and taken into custody.

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Mitigating, Lyall Thompson said his client recognised the ‘stupidity’ of his decision to make off from the officers.

As a schoolboy he was involved in a car accident himself, Mr Thompson said. Recovering in hospital in 2007, Khan and his father spoken to Oxford Mail about road safety. Khan’s barrister said the accident left him with head injuries and ‘affected his decision making’

Earlier, prosecutor Tommy Dominguez told Judge Ian Pringle KC that Khan had driven through a ‘stop stick’ device designed to deflate his tyres during the police pursuit last month.

The Corsa continued on two flat tyres, driving onto the A40 slip road and forcing other motorists to swerve out of the way.

Khan was still disqualified from driving, having been banned when he was convicted of dangerous driving in 2019. That disqualification meant he remained a banned driver until he had passed an extended retest; despite two failed attempts at his theory test, he had not completed the more stringent assessment.

The court heard on Tuesday that Khan was also caught on January 28 last year driving a different Vauxhall Corsa in High Wycombe. He was disqualified from driving at the time and, as a result, was uninsured.

Asked by the police officer who pulled him over why he had been driving, he said: “I’m going through a lot of stress; my head isn’t right.”

Khan, of Church Cowley Road, Oxford, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to dangerous driving, driving without insurance and driving while disqualified. He had five previous convictions for 10 offences.

Defence barrister Mr Thompson asked the judge to bear in mind the dangerous driving was relatively short in duration.

Although his client was, technically, a banned driver at the time that was because he had not passed the extended retest ordered in 2019 – and not because he had got behind the wheel while the 18 month roads ban was in force.

Judge Pringle jailed the defendant for 12 months and banned him from driving for two-and-a-half years.