Driver banned after trying to escape police with flat tyre

A woman who swerved across motorway lanes at high speed with only three inflated tyres has been banned from driving for five years.

Officers could hear the grinding noise of a wheel rim on the road surface above their sirens as they tried to get Vicki Denyer, 41, to pull over in her white Mercedes.

They had been called at about 3.40pm on Sunday, 27 October, with a report of the Mercedes was swerving across northbound lanes of the M11, near Cambridge, with only three inflated tyres.

An unmarked police car found Denyer on the A1M, near Sawtry, snaking across the carriageway and called for back-up. She refused to stop and continued to overtake and undertake lorries and cars and swerved into the hard shoulder at about 80mph.

Denyer, of Whittlesey Road, Peterborough, admitted dangerous driving and failing to provide a specimen of breath.

She was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday, 6 March, to a five-year driving ban, four months imprisonment suspended for 12 months, 200 hours unpaid work, a £1,000 fine and a requirement to undertake an extended driving test.

Sgt Claire Marland, from the road policing unit, said: “The only good thing I can say about this incident is that thankfully no innocent members of the public were injured.

“We could hear the grinding of the wheel rims on the road surface from inside our vehicle and there was every potential for the wheel rim to shatter and cause a collision.

“I hope Denyer realises her actions could have resulted in a much worse outcome for her or other members of the public.”