A court heard a roadside drugs wipe tested positive for cannabis
Mason Whitelam has been jailed(Image: Humberside Police)
Disaster struck when a banned driver who later tested positive for cannabis suddenly swerved and crashed his car into a metal fence while being followed by the police. Mason Whitelam tried to fool the police by switching seats and sitting on the lap of one of the three rear seat passengers but the others soon shopped him and said that he was the driver, Hull Crown Court heard.
Whitelam, 22, formerly of Washington Street, Driffield, but recently of no fixed address and in custody on remand, admitted driving while disqualified, driving while over the drug limit for cannabis and having no insurance on September 12 last year and again on February 23. He also admitted making off without paying for petrol on May 1 and 23.
Jane Rapin, prosecuting, said that Whitelam was banned from driving for drug-related offences but he was twice caught behind the wheel of a car. Police in the Anlaby Road area, west Hull, saw him in a BMW at about 4.30pm and followed him.
After a drug wipe, he tested positive for cannabis. On a second occasion, he was in a silver Chevrolet estate approaching traffic lights at the junction of Normandy Way and Bridge Street, Goole, at 1am.
The car turned left and went towards what seemed to be a dirt track, which led to a dead-end. The vehicle swerved slowly to the left, hitting a metal fence before coming to a stop.
Police went to detain the driver but the driver’s seat was found to be empty. There was a female front seat passenger and four rear passengers, one of them sitting on another’s lap. “Officers detained the male who was sitting on the other’s lap,” said Miss Rapin. The others said that Whitelam was the driver. A roadside drugs wipe tested positive for cannabis.
“The Chevrolet was searched and three buds of cannabis were found in the front centre console,” said Miss Rapin. Whitelam said: “The cannabis in the car is mine and I was driving.”
At 12.27am on May 1, Whitelam drove a Ford Fiesta to a petrol station in York Road, Scunthorpe, and put £50.82 of petrol in before driving off without paying. He returned to the same petrol station in a Ford Zetec on May 23 and filled up with £50 of petrol without paying.
Whitelam had convictions for 10 previous offences, including two for drug-driving. He was in breach of an 18-month suspended prison sentence imposed on January 9 for possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent intent to supply.
Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said that Whitelam pleaded guilty to the offences. He had recently had a job and it was hoped that this would still be available to him. He was hoping to change his life around, he was still young and he was in a new relationship.
Whitelam was jailed for 17 months. The prison term included a consecutive 14 months for breaching the suspended sentence. He was banned from driving for three years and eight months.
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