A BANNED motorist has been jailed for taking a vehicle without the owner's consent and driving dangerously on the wrong side of the road towards a marked police car in Somerset.

David Bailey, 39, was sentenced to 16 months when he appeared at Taunton Crown Court on Friday (January 8) after pleading guilty to a number of motoring offences.

Bailey took a Land Rover Discovery from a farm in Bruton overnight on August 30-31.

Then on September 1, an on-duty officer in his marked police car in the centre of Yeovil saw the vehicle being driven towards him on the wrong side of the road.

The officer avoided a collision and Bailey sped off in the vehicle, with a number of members of the public also forced to take evasive action.

The Land Rover was later that day found abandoned in the Westfield area of town and Bailey was arrested.

Bailey, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent. He also admitted offences of driving while disqualified and driving without insurance. He has been disqualified from driving for 30 months

PC Jim Card, from the Operation Remedy team, said: “David Bailey is a prolific offender in the Yeovil area and we welcome the custodial sentence he has received.

“His driving put himself and innocent members of the public at risk and such actions cannot be left unpunished.”