- The 21-year-old had no appropriate license or insurance.
- He led police on an hour-long chase in a flatbed truck.
- At one point, he hit 56 mph in a 20 mph zone.
Everybody makes mistakes from time to time, but running from police is on a different level. Doing so behind the wheel of what is a massive, somewhat unwieldy freight truck just adds additional stupidity on top of an already bad decision. Evidently, those weren’t the only two wrong things one young man in the UK did recently. He managed both while also unlicensed and uninsured. The dashcam video is harrowing.
According to police, the chase began in Cuddington on August 10 after PC Michael Clark attempted to stop Leuan Griffiths. Instead of pulling over, the 21-year-old reportedly took off in the flatbed truck he had purchased despite not having the appropriate license or insurance. Things went downhill quickly from there.
Read: Police Troll Biker Who Filmed His Own 130 MPH Chase
Griffiths led officers through Weaverham, Sandiway, and Davenham before eventually making his way toward Whitchurch. Along the way, police say he reached 76 mph (122 km/h) in a 50 mph (80 km/h) zone and, perhaps more alarmingly, 56 mph (90 km/h) through a 20 mph (32 km/h) zone.
Video released by Cheshire Police shows just how sketchy things became. Griffiths can be seen overtaking other vehicles with remarkably little room to spare, squeezing the large truck along roads poorly suited to something of its size, and repeatedly putting himself and other motorists in danger. As you can see in the video below, this isn’t the kind of truck police can simply pit or box in. Frankly, at the speeds Griffiths reached, any physical attempt at stopping him could’ve been disastrous.
Eventually, Griffiths made it to Whitchurch, where abandoning the truck apparently seemed like his best remaining option. He jumped out and tried his luck on foot, but officers caught him. PC Clark described the pursuit as one of the worst examples of driving he’d seen, and he added that it was remarkable that nobody was seriously injured.
Griffiths has now been handed an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years. He’s also been banned from driving for two years, ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, and will have to pass an extended driving test before getting his license in the future. Police chases are dangerous enough when the vehicle in question weighs just a couple of tons. This one could’ve been far worse. Now, Griffiths has time to contemplate that.
