A BANNED driver who rammed a police vehicle in Selby during a car chase has been jailed.

Stephen Reece, 21, had numerous convictions for driving whilst disqualified and car snatching, York Crown Court heard.

John Elvidge, prosecuting, said police spotted him near a car they believed had been taken without the owner's consent in East Common, Selby.

On seeing the patrol car, Reece got into a second car and drove off at 60mph down a narrow country lane.

Police gave chase and cornered him in Carr Lane, a cul-de-sac. But he suddenly reversed the Peugeot he was driving and rammed the police car at speed.

When that failed to clear the road, he tried to squeeze between the police and a wall, hit a telegraph pole, moved across to the passenger seat of his vehicle and was arrested fleeing from the car.

Reece, of Southfield Road, Thorne, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance. He was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for three years.

Jason Hill, for Reece, said that although an officer was in the police car when it was rammed, no one was injured.

Reece was showing signs of reducing his offending.

Updated: 12:33 Saturday, March 08, 2003