A DRUG driver has been banned after he tried to flee the scene of a head on crash by climbing over a hedge.

Matthew Goss drove in the middle of the road with lines of stationary traffic either side of him after police tried to stop him in South Devon. He hit another car and then jumped out and ran away.

The two plain clothes officers who had been following him gave chase on foot and grabbed him as he tried to jump over a hedge, Exeter Crown Court was told.

A roadside drug swipe proved positive and a blood test showed he had cannabis, cocaine and a cocaine metabolite in his system.

Goss, aged 32, of Spencer Road, Paignton, admitted dangerous driving, three offences of drug driving, personal possession of cocaine and having no licence or insurance.

He was banned for 18 months, ordered to undergo six months of drug rehabilitation and 40 days of rehabilitation activities under a three year community order by Judge Stephen Climie.

He told him he had handled cases in which people had died as a result of drug driving and said the ban needed to be longer than the 12 months minimum because of the cocktail of drugs he had taken.

Miss Beth Rickerby, prosecuting, said plain clothes police in an unmarked car became suspicious of and followed a grey BMW which Goss was driving at noon on December 18, 2022.

They approached the car when it got stuck in traffic and Goss responded by driving off at slow speed between lines of traffic, forcing cars to move aside to let him through before eventually colliding with an oncoming vehicle.

He ran off but was caught as he tried to jump over a hedge and found with two small wraps of cocaine hidden in a sock.

Miss Felicity Payne, defending, said this incident had prompted a realisation by Goss that he needs to tackle an addiction to cocaine which led to these offences.

She said he did not realise the people who approached his car were police because they were in plain clothes and an unmarked car.