AN unlicensed and uninsured driver has been jailed after driving like a “mad man” in an Audi Q7 – reaching speeds of up to 90mph in a 30mph zone.

Israar Hussain, 24, of High Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, appeared before Bradford Crown Court to be sentenced after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and driving without a licence or insurance.

Judge Jonathan Rose told him there was no alternative to a custodial sentence and that he had driven the way he had, in wet conditions, “putting people in jeopardy”.

During the course of the driving, which lasted around two-and-a-half minutes, he reached speeds of 90mph in a 30mph zone.

The court heard that Hussain also drove on the wrong side of a dual carriageway and drove around a roundabout the wrong way.

Officers in an unmarked police vehicle were driving along Hard Ings Road, in Keighley, at around 3.30am on July 28 last year, when they spotted a white Audi Q7 being driven at excessive speed.

They attempted to catch up with the car, driving in excess of 70mph, but were unable to catch up with the vehicle.

The car then went on Skipton Road, heading away from Keighley.

The police vehicle reached speeds of 90mph, but they were still unable to catch up with the Audi.

Hussain then drove the wrong way down the dual carriageway and took a blind bend at speeds in excess of 50mph.

Officers then activated their lights and sirens, but Hussain went the wrong way around a roundabout, before going on to a residential street with parked cars on either side and speed bumps.

He was driving at 40mph, collided with a parked taxi and made off from the Audi, though was quickly caught and arrested by police.

Hussain admitted he’d had a “few drinks” and he didn’t have a licence, though a roadside breath test found he was under the legal limit.

The court heard he was not the registered owner of the Audi, but took the car when his friend was unable to drive him.

Hussain was said to be remorseful for his actions and accepts that what he did was wrong, entering guilty pleas – to dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance – at the earliest opportunity.

The court heard he has no previous convictions and is a man of “positive good character” assisting adults with special needs and acting as a part-time carer for his elderly great grandmother.

In sentencing, Judge Jonathan Rose told Hussain: “You were driving madly. All of this came before the police put their lights on.

“You were just driving like a mad man because you wanted to.”

He said while there was not a lot of traffic on the roads at the time “that does not make the driving any less bad”.

Judge Rose told Hussain: “There is no alternative to a custodial sentence.

“This was a piece of driving at high speeds, in very dangerous conditions, by a man who should not have been driving at all.”

The starting point was a 10-month sentence, reduced to seven for his guilty pleas. He was also disqualified from driving for 18 months and will have to take an extended driving test before being able to take to the roads again.