Driver of car with three tyres and sparks flying from exhaust pipe was stoned

A stoned motorist was caught driving a car with three inflated tyres and a broken exhaust pipe which was dragging along the road, sending sparks flying. Learner driver Reece Elwell, 26, was spotted by a police community support officer (PCSO) as they drove home from work.

When uniformed officers arrived to pull the car over, Elwell said he had suffered a puncture and had been driving on three wheels for half an hour. He also admitted he had been drinking vodka and smoking cannabis, and a search later discovered a tub of the Class B drug in his bag.

Elwell appeared at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Thursday (March 6), and pleaded guilty to driving over the drug limit and possessing cannabis. The prosecutor, Sukhy Basi, told magistrates that the alcohol breathalyser reading was only just over the limit, and he had not been charged in relation to that.

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Mr Basi said: "On August 17 last year at about 11.20pm, an off duty PCSO was driving towards the A5 and noticed the car with its hazard lights on and a front wheel that was punctured. There was damage to the car and the exhaust pipe was hanging off and dragging on the road, producing sparks."

He said the PCSO followed the slow-moving Hyundai, expecting Elwell to pull over. But he kept going, so the PCSO called Leicestershire Police. They arrived later and stopped Elwell in Lutterworth Road, Burbage, near Hinckley.

Mr Basi said that after finding the cannabis in his bag, the officers arrested Elwell and took him to a police station for a blood test. Mr Basi said: "He said he was guilty and had been drinking and driving and had taken 'bud', referring to cannabis.

"He said he was driving like an idiot. He remembered turning right and the tyre 'just popped or something'."

Representing himself in court, Elwell, of Victoria Road, Yardley, Birmingham, told the magistrates he was on benefits and fit for doing unpaid work. The magistrates gave him a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work. He was also banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £50 towards court costs and a £114 victim surcharge.