A DRUG driver who sped past a primary school and crashed into an ambulance as he fled from police has been condemned by a judge who jailed him for 14 months.

Adam Vaughan had taken cocaine and cannabis before hurtling down a narrow one way street outside Christchurch Junior School on February 20 this year.

Police in an unmarked car had attempted to stop him in Barrack Road at 2.30pm after routine checks revealed he did not have a driving licence.

Daily Echo:

But instead of stopping when asked to do so he sped away, turning first into Clarendon Road and then into Fairmile Road where his black VW Golf collided with an ambulance answering an emergency call.

Vaughan, 32, of Nursery Close, Hordle, Lymington, has 35 previous convictions for 88 offences and Judge Robert Pawson heard he has spent most of the last 10 years in prison.

Daily Echo:

The judge said: "You have got a pretty appalling record. You drove down a small residential road with cars parked on both sides. At one point you passed a primary school.

"It was 2.30 on a weekday afternoon - the risks you were taking were enormous. It was a deliberate decision on your part to show complete disregard for the enormous danger you were causing everyone else."

Judge Pawson said Vaughan's actions also prevented an ambulance responding to an emergency call.

Defending, Victoria Hills told Bournemouth Crown Court: "He can't explain why he didn't stop and he accepts that his behaviour was appalling."

She urged the judge to order drugs treatment as an alternative to prison and added: "Prison is something he can do. It is more of a home to him than anywhere else."

Miss Hills said Vaughan has a 12-year-old son and "wants to get clean."

She added: "He feels more settled than he has ever done in his life."

Daily Echo:

Vaughan admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop when required to do so and driving with no licence or insurance.

He also admitted two charges of drug driving related to cocaine and cannabis.

Vaughan was jailed for 14 months for dangerous driving and given two two-month sentences for the drug driving offences, to run concurrently.

His licence was endorsed for failing to stop, no insurance and no licence.