A MOTORIST who tried to avoid justice by fleeing to Portugal after the Government announced it would revert to amber travel status has been jailed.

Darren Leslie Fisher, 34, had driven a car through a road block in the dark and sped for miles down the closed A1(M) towards where firefighters were dealing with a major lorry fire, York Crown Court heard.

When he had to stop, he scaled an eight-foot fence to get away from police.

Timothy Jacobs, prosecuting, said Fisher was eventually found at Wetherby Services "sitting down having a cup of coffee." He was nearly twice the drink drive limit.

Fisher's actions were three hours into a 12-hour closure of the motorway that brought chaos to North Yorkshire's roads on December 9, 2019 and only a few days after he had been released from prison.

Judge Simon Hickey said: "This was an appalling piece of driving putting these fire officers and the police at risk by driving down a shut motorway."

Fisher had deliberately gone abroad to avoid his trial on June 21, he said.

On July 1, after his return to the country, Fisher admitted dangerous driving, drink driving, resisting police and failure to attend court.

Fisher, of Heald Street, Castleford, was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for three years and nine months. He will have to take an extended driving test before driving on his own again.

The Government amber announcement about Portugal was on June 3, 2021. On June 4, Fisher flew out of the UK and on June 8, the quarantine came into effect.

Mr Jacobs said the slip road onto the A1(M) southbound was blocked at the roundabout at the A59 Junction 47 by a Highways Agency vehicle across the road and road cones on December 9, 2019.

But at 6pm Fisher drove round the vehicle, mounting the verge, and headed down the slip road.

As he drove south, police and Highways Agency vehicles tried to stop him without success.

Eventually he stopped close to where the lorry, no longer on fire, was blocking the carriageway and got away from police on foot.

When they tracked him to Wetherby Services, he fought police as they bundled him into a police van.

For Fisher, Samreen Akhtar said he was "deeply sorry for his actions".

Since being released from jail he had set up two business for rural and local communities. He would lose them and his family's mortgaged property.

On December 9, he had been in a hurry to get back to the hostel where he was staying before its 7pm curfew, she said.

But the judge said Fisher had told a fire officer he had been hurrying to get back to his son when his mother was in hospital.