A MAN who led police on a hair-raising high-speed chase has been jailed for nine months.

John Dowson, 25, jumped traffic lights at 80mph and also drove the wrong way around a roundabout, narrowly missing a heavy goods lorry, Teesside Crown Court heard.

His antics were only brought to an end when he went off-road onto dirt tracks and crashed into a boulder in a field.

Prosecuting, Sarah Mallett said police in a marked car were following Dowson's white Vauxhall Vectra, but were forced to give up the chase because it was too dangerous for them to follow.

Ms Mallett described how Dowson ignored give-way markings and sped past two schools at 60mph during the pursuit in Hartlepool, which lasted for 15 minutes.

He also mounted a central reservation and drove directly at traffic travelling in the opposite direction to him, forcing motorists to swerve out of the way.

When he was eventually arrested, Dowson, of Inch Grove, Hartlepool, said he panicked when he realised that he was being followed by police because he knew he had no insurance.

Robin Denny, for Dowson, who admitted dangerous driving and driving while disqualified on September 23 last year, said he had stupidly agreed to do a favour for a friend who had too much to drink, who asked him to go and fetch his mobile phone using the car.

The court heard that this was Dowson's fourth offence of driving while disqualified, for which he had already been jailed for three months.

Judge Guy Whitburn QC said Dowson, who has learning difficulties, had driven exceptionally dangerously.

He said: "You put a number of people's lives in Hartlepool at risk by your driving that particular day."

As well as the nine-month sentence, the judge banned Dowson for a further three years and said that he would have to undertake an extended driving test should he re-apply for a licence.