A car racing enthusiast was branded “a dangerous idiot” for repeatedly “drifting” or swinging his high powered car around roads.

Kyle Blythe was arrested several times after he was spotted making the manoeuvre, mainly on roundabouts, in the modified BMW.

The 26-year-old mechanic was in trouble again when he offended at Snipeshill in Sittingbourne on Christmas Eve 2015.

A judge said Blythe risked colliding with parked cars and injuring pedestrians. “Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident,” he added.

Prosecutor Madeleine Wolfe said Blythe, of Doubleday Drive, Bapchild, had previously been convicted of careless driving offences for similar behaviour.

In February 2015 he was arrested after he sped around a roundabout with his tyres squealing. He was disqualified for 12 months for a similar offence in September last year.

A probation officer told Maidstone Crown Court Blythe, who has 22 points on his licence, had a fascination with cars and liked working on them.

He had paid £450 for his BMW and spent “thousands” modifying it so he could “behave as he did do”, said the officer.

Blythe denied dangerous driving but was convicted after a trial.

Jason Dunn-Shaw, defending, said his client’s hobby was track racing and he helped train young drivers in mechanics.

“There is no suggestion he was tailgating,” he said of the offence. “An off-duty police officer followed one of the manoeuvres.

“He is a foolish young man who has found himself in the Crown Court. He won’t be able to drive.”

Judge Charles Macdonald QC told Blythe: “You are a car enthusiast. You modified your car so it can be driven in this way. You proceeded to behave like a dangerous idiot.

“You are 26. You should know better. There is no mitigation.”

Blythe was sentenced to 26 weeks suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work. He will be subject to a tagged curfew from 8pm to 6am for six months.

He was banned from driving for two years and will have to take an extended test before he will be allowed his licence back.

The judge added: “The curfew will prevent you from working as a race technician. That is my intention.”