A DRIVER who tried to run away from police and then refused to give a breath sample has been jailed.

Blackburn magistrates heard Aaron Dylan Crompton had bought the car that day despite being disqualified from driving.

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The magistrates were told it was irrelevant that Crompton denied that he had been drinking because he admitted to a probation officer that he had taken cocaine and heroin on the day.

Crompton, 36, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and without insurance and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

He was jailed for 16 weeks and banned from driving for three years.

Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said Crompton had been disqualified from driving in March for failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

Police were alerted to a possible drink driver and saw the car driven by Crompton in Livesey Branch Road.

They followed him into Kings Road and then Plantation Road where the car stopped and the occupants got out and ran off.

Officers chased Crompton and detained him. They said he smelled of alcohol and became abusive.

Gareth Price, defending, said his client accepted the magistrates had only two sentencing options, an immediate prison sentence or a suspended prison sentence.

“He is in danger of getting caught in the revolving door of prison sentence, release and back to prison unless he can sort his life out,” said Mr Price.