A ROAD rage ‘maniac’ who drove at 100mph on a 50mph road while texting before crashing into a verge has been jailed for 16 months.

Amjad Khan had chased a sensible and innocent driver, because he considered the man had offended him by being in his way as the defendant sped to his shop in Manchester.

Burnley Crown Court heard Khan had cut him up, beckoned him to pull over and had then tried to block his path as the man accelerated past him to escape.

The defendant was said to have been clocking up 100mph and texting on his mobile phone as he passed a bus and headed into a 50mph stretch.

He then ended up crashing on the A56 Edenfield bypass as he tried to undertake.

Khan, 33, a convicted drug dealer, later ‘brazenly’ told a probation officer if the motorist had stopped when he had beckoned him to, he would have ‘leathered him all over the motorway’.

The defendant, of Chatburn Park Drive, Brierfield, admitted dangerous driving on May 18. He was banned for four years and must take an extended retest.

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said the motorist was heading south, towards Manchester, in the outside lane and was overtaking, but as far as the defendant was concerned, he wasn't going fast enough.

Khan's BMW approached, apparently from nowhere, and tailgated the other car so closely the driver couldn't see the defendant's headlights in his rear-view mirror.

Khan was gesticulating to the driver to get out of his way, but he was unable to do so because of a car in the nearside lane.

Khan chose to brake sharply, went to undertake both cars, but swerved across their path, and braked hard.

He then chased him before crashing.

Bob Elias, for Khan, said: “I accept this is an outrageous piece of dangerous driving and it's a blessing nobody was injured.”

Judge Graham Knowles, QC, said: “It is little short of a miracle that nobody was grievously hurt or killed. There could have been the most appalling tragedy as a result of your driving.

“It's exactly the kind of driving that we all know when we see it. We see it and think ‘That man is a lunatic and ought to go to prison.’ Well, you are going to prison.”