If you’re going to try to flee police in a vehicle, make sure that your getaway car actually has enough wheels! Marc Armstrong, 42, decided to make a daring getaway from the police and led them on a thrilling chase down the M55, driving a car with 3 wheels. This wasn’t a Robin Reliant either – he was driving a black Saab that wasnt a 3 wheel vehicle!
The reckless driver had been arguing with a woman earlier that day in the Preston area and had got into the Saab owned by his mother following the disagreement. The angry driver continued to drive when one of the wheels blew out. Police driving around the Broughton roundabout at about 11pm on May 23rd clocked the unroadworthy vehicle and signalled to Armstrong to pull over.
When Armstrong had stopped on the slip road, he got out of the vehicle to talk to officers. He was looking at the vehicle and the police officer who spoke to Armstrong observed that his breath smelled of alcohol and that he was slurring his speech. Armstrong was instructed to wait at the barrier whilst the officer went to get a breathalyser kit from the police car.
As the police officer made his way back to his own vehicle, he noticed Armstrong head back to the Saab and although the officer tried to get hold of the car door, Armstrong was able to start the vehicle up and began to drive away. As the vehile started moving however, the blown-out tyre came off completely.
With the lost tyre, the Saab was only able to reach speeds of between 40 and 45 MPH so the chase trundled along in the slow lane with Armstrong attempting to drive aggressively across 3 lanes of traffic when further police patrol cars came to assist with the chase. Eventually, the police cars worked together to box in the 3 wheel getaway car and Armstrong had no choice but to stop at the central reservation.
The driver was handcuffed by two officers and taken to the police station where he refused to be breathalysed.
In court, Armstrong admitted that he had not been driving carefully, refused to provide a specimen and he was also driving his mothers car without insurance. It was observed that Armstrong had been having a hard time lately however and so he was shown leniency by the judge who still labelled the driving as “extremely bad and dangerous”.
