A man driving like a "maniac" at high speed was finally brought to a halt when the car he was driving was rammed by police.

Two patrol cars chased Frazer Higgins through Sheerness as he hit up to 80mph in 30mph limits in February this year.

Prosecutor Mary Jacobson said the 23-year-old, who has epilepsy, caught the attention of the officers when he flashed past them in Minster Road and they discovered he had no insurance.

He was followed into Harps Avenue and Scocles Road before driving through Halfway towards Queenborough and onto the A249.

Miss Jacobson said Higgins drove on the wrong side of the road both approaching and travelling around a roundabout, jumped two red traffic lights and then skidded and lost control as he joined the A249 and went over the central reservation.

“It was of concern to the officers that it was going to drive the wrong way along the A road so the lead car made a tactical decision to bring it to an end by driving into the Clio,” Miss Jacobson told Maidstone Crown Court.

Higgins said he did not stop because he had no licence or insurance. He also said he panicked because his passenger, whose car he was driving, was on a curfew and wanted by the Metropolitan Police.

He was taking the friend, who was banned from driving, to see his sick mother.

Higgins, of Grangemill Road, Catford, south east London, admitted dangerous driving, having no insurance or a licence and failing to stop.

Jailing him for 15 months and banning him from driving for 18 months, Judge Heather Baucher said: “You drove like a maniac.

“The police had to put their own lives at risk by ramming your vehicle and bringing it to a stop. This was undoubtedly aggressive behaviour.”

She told Higgins he should have left his friend to make his own way to see his ill mother.

“There is something called a taxi in the early hours of the morning and that taxi should never have been you,” the judge added.