A dangerous driver caught undertaking traffic and hitting 100mph on the A34 walked from court with a year-long ban.
Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard that a Thames Valley Police traffic sergeant’s attention was first drawn to 22-year-old Kyle Spencer’s VW Sharan when it drove past him at the Wendlebury interchange on October 4 last year, almost going through a red light.
Following it down the A34 towards Kidlington, the officer saw the driver of the dark-coloured people carrier engaged in a dangerous battle of wills with the driver of a lighter-coloured car.
The second car sped up to the back of the VW, flashing its lights. The darker car ended up behind the other, following the lighter vehicle ‘very closely’, prosecutor Anne Sawyer-Brandish said.
Both cars were said to have reached speeds of more than 100mph on the busy and damp dual carriageway.
“As the cars approached the exit road for Kidlington, the sergeant saw the driver of the dark vehicle move to exit the slip road, undertaking a car then veering back into lane one from the exit slip road then into lane two ahead of the lighter vehicle,” the prosecutor said.
The driver of the light-coloured vehicle had to brake hard, slowing down to around 20mph.
The tailing traffic officer switched on his blue lights in order to prevent any further ‘dangerous interaction’ between the two drivers.
Spencer’s dark VW stopped a short way up the road, while the light-coloured vehicle drove away.
Summarising the offending, Ms Sawyer-Brandish said: “He was moving from one lane to another, undertaking the other person’s vehicle in a highly-dangerous manner, it was damp, at night and surrounded by traffic. The driving was clearly deliberate and highly dangerous.”
Mitigating, Jayne Wilkinson said her client claimed the interaction between the dark and light car had ‘started earlier when he was driving on the road from Bicester’. The lighter car tailgated and undertook him.
She told the JPs: “It sounds like there was an element of annoyance and frustration by both drivers.”
Spencer claimed to have pulled back onto the A34 from the exit slip road as he ‘realised he needed petrol’ and returned to the dual carriageway in order to drive onto the service station, his solicitor said.
Ms Wilkinson said her client, who suffers with poor mental health, was ‘scared’ both when he was pulled over at the roadside and appearing before the courts on Wednesday.
The defendant, of Pennywell Drive, Oxford, pleaded guilty at the first hearing to a single charge of dangerous driving. He had no previous convictions.
He received a 12 month community order with a mental health treatment requirement, up to 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and was banned from driving for a year.
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
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