A BANNED driver narrowly missed hitting a cyclist as he sped down a country lane at 70mph with police on his tail.

Zachary Abba, 26, who had been banned from the roads six weeks earlier, was said to have panicked when officers in unmarked cars tried to pull him over as he emerged from the car park of Royal Wootton Bassett’s Aldi on May 23.

The ensuing eight mile chase saw Abba drive on the wrong side of the road and roundabouts, speed down single track lanes forcing others off the road and pass within a metre of a cyclist.

Prosecutor Ciaran Smith told Swindon Crown Court that the police officers thought it remarkable the cyclist was not injured or worse.

The pursuit was called off when another vehicle, which had pulled in to let Abba’s Seat Ibiza pass, pulled out in front of the police cars.

The Seat was later found abandoned. Abba was arrested four days later and candidly admitted he was the driver. In a pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service, he said he was surprised the police had been able to keep up with him.

Mitigating, Emma Handslip asked the judge to impose a suspended sentence, saying her client would benefit from the thinking skills programme. The mechanic, who lived in a caravan, supported other family members and had worked ‘every hour he could’ during the lockdown.

On the day of the offence he had gone out to pick something up as it was his mother’s birthday.

“He understands he’s been a complete and utter idiot,” Ms Handslip said. Her client had a medical condition which meant he suffered from extreme pain in his hands.

Abba, of Brinkworth, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.

Sentencing him to nine months’ imprisonment suspended for a year and a half, Recorder Simon Foster said: “On April 7 of this year you were before the magistrates’ court on driving offences that is to say drug driving.

“That was April 7. On May 23, you having been disqualified for three years, the police found you or were alerted to you being behind the wheel of a car.

“I am told that was because it was your mother’s birthday and you wanted to fetch something, which is at best a feeble excuse.”

He said Abba had family commitments and responsibilities, was still young and a working man who ‘puts his shoulder to the wheel’. He had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. “These things stand very much to your credit and that credit you are cashing in today.”

Abba was banned from driving for two years, which will sart after his existing three year ban. He must do 100 hours of unpaid work, the thinking skills programme and up to 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.