A banned drug-driver who led police on a late-night car chase in Gillingham had six convictions for dangerous driving.

Peter Hemsworth, 30, who has never held a full driver's licence, has been caught motoring while disqualified nine times, a court heard.

A judge has now jailed him for 18 months and banned him, again, this time for five years and nine months.

Judge Robert Lazarus told him: "This is the worst list of previous convictions I have ever seen.

"A second conviction for dangerous driving is not that common, a third quite rare, but this is your sixth.

"You have shown extraordinary contempt for the law of the road."

Hemsworth, now of BurntIsland, in Scotland, was spotted by police at the wheel of a Seat Leon and then followed for nearly 10 minutes.

Prosecutor Anne-Marie Critchley told how on December 22, 2019, he drove along narrow streets at up to 60mph in a 30mph limit.

Eventually, police officers stopped chasing because of the danger.

Another police car then saw the Seat before it ploughed into a bollard and Hemsworth was arrested after being tasered by an officer.

She told Maidstone Crown Court how before driving Hemsworth had taken cocaine.

Judge Lazarus said the chase had been along narrow residential roads, had seen the car mounting the kerb and had been "truly appalling".

'Your driving was appalling and so are your previous convictions...'

He said he had also ignored one red light and drove the wrong way along a one-way street.

"All of this was carried out while you have never held a valid driver's licence and while your judgment would have been impaired by virtue of the cocaine you had consumed," said the judge.

"Your driving was appalling and so are your previous convictions."

Hemsworth, who admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and being under the influence of drugs, now plans to train as a motor mechanic.