A MOTORCYCLIST who outran police around Teignmouth and Newton Abbot by using a bus stop to undertake a line of cars has been jailed for dangerous driving.

Colin Cuddy had only come out of jail a couple of weeks before and knew he would be sent back there if he was caught because he was a banned driver.

Police abandoned the chase on the road between Teignmouth and Newton Abbot because they considered it too dangerous but were able to trace Cuddy to his home.

They found his bike parked outside with the exhaust pipe still hot and CCTV at the Teignmouth flats where he lived showed him pulling up in the same leathers and helmet as the rider the police had been chasing.

He dumped them in his flat, did a quick change and had gone out by the time the police got to his door but he later returned and gave himself up.

Cuddy, aged 32, of Barn Park Road, Teignmouth, admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and with no insurance and was jailed for eight months and disqualified for 18 months after his release by Recorder Mr Roger Harris at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ’You were aware the police wanted you to stop because you looked back over your shoulder but you drove through a red light, in conflict with two vehicles which had gone through the green light.

’You continued to speed and undercut vehicles by driving through a bus stop. It has been described as a short but frenetic bit of dangerous driving.’

Mr Gareth Evans, prosecuting, said the crew of a police traffic car saw two motorcycles speeding in the opposite direction on Teignmouth Road at lunchtime on January 21 this year and turned round to follow them.

One bike had already disappeared by the time they caught up with Cuddy and the police saw him look back at them before speeding off through a red light, forcing two cars to make emergency stops.

He overtook and undertook cars and police gave up the chase because it was too dangerous. They traced Cuddy and found he had left his bike, got changed and gone out.

Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Cuddy had only been released from jail two weeks before and had got a bike so he could try to get work as a block paver.

He said he panicked when he saw the police because he knew he was disqualified and was worried about being recalled to prison.

He said: ’He was trying to get back to normal life and made a foolish decision. He was trying to do the right thing in a very bad way.’