A van driver, who drove at double the speed limit during a police chase, has narrowly avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Daniel Cain panicked after a police car started following him in Lowestoft at 8pm on April 23 and accelerated away, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Michael Crimp, prosecuting, said that during the chase that followed he had driven along Church Road and Oulton Road, which had 30mph speed limits, at 60mph.

He had driven over a mini roundabout in Hollingsworth Road at 50mph and had then increased his speed to 60mph before driving over another mini roundabout in Fir Lane so fast that the wheels of the van had come off the road.

He had then turned into Crestview Drive where he drove at speeds of up to 55mph and took a sweeping right hand bend on the wrong side of the road, said Mr Crimp.

At one stage during the chase, on-coming drivers were forced to pull out of the way to avoid a collision with the van.

Cain had also driven on the wrong side of the road in Mountbatten Road before clipping a kerb as he turned into Montgomery Avenue.

He had then turned into a service road where the van mounted the pavement and collided with a garden wall.

Cain had run off but was arrested in a nearby garden and told officers he had smoked cannabis prior to driving the van.

A test showed the level of drugs in his blood was above the legal limit.

Cain, 24, of Raglan Street, Lowestoft, admitted dangerous driving, driving with the level of drugs above the specified limit and driving without insurance and without a licence.

He was given a nine month prison sentence suspended for two years and banned from driving for three years after which he will have to take an extended driving test. He was also given a three month curfew.

Sentencing him, Recorder Rex Bryan described what Cain had done as 'a sustained period of dangerous driving' and said he had narrowly avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Daniel Taylor, for Cain, said his client accepted his driving had been disgraceful and said he had panicked when he saw he was being followed by a police car as he was on bail for an attempted burglary.