Sydenham man drove Jaguar ‘like a maniac in a tank’

Sarjeet Singh Flora, 27, of Cottage Close, Sydenham, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

And despite a judge at Warwick Crown Court hearing that he drove another customer’s car just days after being arrested for crashing the Jaguar, he escaped an immediate jail sentence.

Instead Flora was sentenced to 51 weeks in prison suspended for two years, banned from driving for two years, and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay £6,000 compensation to the owners of the Jaguar and an Audi he hit.

Prosecutor Michael Anning said that at 4.50pm on May 5 police officers saw Flora driving a maroon Jaguar which pulled out of Old Station Yard in Station Road, Marton, where he ran a motor repair business.

Both Flora and his passenger looked at the marked police as they passed it, and the officers followed him as he continued along the A423 towards Long Itchington.

But, realising he was being followed, Flora drove off at speed, and the officers lost the Jaguar for a while in the heavy rush-hour traffic.

When officers saw it again near Long Itchington they attempted to stop it by positioning their own vehicle across its path – but Flora accelerated and drove round the police car.

He drove at up to 80mph on a road with a 60mph limit, swerving violently and hitting a BMW as he went across a junction without stopping.

But Flora kept going, and as police continued their pursuit he lost control of the Jaguar on a bend and hit an Audi A6 in a collision Mr Anning described as “much more substantial”.

Recorder Christopher Goodchild commented: “It was right on the driver’s door. Jaguars are built like tanks, and it probably had the same effect as a tank.”

Mr Anning, who said the collision caused damage costing £6,739 to repair to the two cars, added that the Jaguar belonged to one of Flora’s customers who had left it at the premises to be repaired and had not given him permission to drive it for personal use.

When he was arrested Flora said he had been driving it to Long Itchington to get some cigarettes, and he said he had not seen the police car near his premises but admitted failing to stop when he saw the police car parked across the road.

And just eight days later Flora, who had a number of convictions for motoring offences and had been banned, was seen driving another customer’s car in Marton.

Peter Freeman, defending, said Flora set up the repair business at a unit in Marton because it was the only one he could find with a paint spraying facility which he could afford.

But the only way customers would use it was if the car was picked up or they were given a lift back after dropping it off, and on that day someone who worked with Flora had asked him for a lift home.

Mr Freeman added that Flora had now given up the business and works for someone else.

Sentencing Flora, Recorder Goodchild told him: “I accept you are a worker. The only problem is you are a worker with motor cars.

“You set yourself up in a motor business in the middle of nowhere. The temptation for you to use your customers’ cars was obviously overwhelming. It was so obvious that the police set up a camera unit to catch you.

“When you were caught, you didn’t stop, but drove like a maniac in a tank. Just look at the damage you caused.”