Dramatic police video of a high-speed car chase has been released showing a banned driver reaching speeds of up to 150mph as police pursued him for more than 80 miles.
Syed Reza, from Luton, was jailed for four years and two months at Warwick Crown Court last week after admitting four counts of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC called Syed Reza’s attempts to outrun officers “the worst case of dangerous driving” he had ever seen in his court, Bedfordshire Police said.
Reza, 25, was also sentenced for three other pursuits, two from Luton in April 2020 and July 2020 and another in Warwickshire in January 2020.
He will be banned from driving for four years after his release.
The video shows part of the police pursuit of Reza as they chased him from Luton to Birmingham, across seven police force areas in the early hours of 18 September, 2020.
Officers from a joint Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire team were involved, along with those from the Northamptonshire and West Midlands police forces.
The pursuit ended when two police cars were able to ram Reza’s car in Birmingham, forcing it to a stop and allowing officers to arrest him.
Bedfordshire Police said in a statement: “After over 80 miles of dangerous driving, and two police cars rammed (him), Reza was brought to a stop and arrested in Birmingham.
“He was later released under investigation where he then fled the country. A year later he returned and was picked up by officers at Heathrow Airport.”
Image: Reza was jailed for more than four years. Pic: Bedfordshire Police
Sergeant Ian Leeson, from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit, said: “This was the most dangerous and protracted pursuit I have ever led in my career as a road policing officer.
“The pursuit travelled through rural and urban areas and it is to my amazement that nobody was injured as a result of the speeds and manner in which Reza was driving.”
“The outcome could have been very different,” he added.
