A YOUNG driver has avoided jail after taking his mother’s car for a ‘joy ride’, fleeing police at a speed of 100mph.

Layton Allen, 22, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday (April 5) for one count of dangerous driving.

The young man was caught on May 29 last year fleeing police in his mother’s Vauxhall Meriva through the centre of Oxford, reaching speeds of 100mph, driving through red lights, and performing ‘reckless manoeuvres’.

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Sentencing him to a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, Judge Ian Pringle said: “This was a bad piece of driving.

"You’re 22 Mr Allen, you have better things to do than being in these courts.”

The court heard police tried to stop Allen, of Nye Bevan Close, to check the insurance of the car as it was flagged as being insured to a woman when officers spotted him.

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However, he sped off and police pursued him for 10 minutes before it was deemed too unsafe to continue.

His defence barrister said: “He is and was a young man, the key issue is a lack of maturity. He took a colossally bad decision to flee police.”

Allen was also disqualified from driving for two years and must take an extended retest as well as completing 120 hours of unpaid work and a Thinking Skills programme.