A 25-year-old man filmed driving the wrong way along a busy dual carriageway as his friends cheered from the roadside has been banned from the road and given a suspended jail term by a judge who warned him: "I am not going to forget that piece of driving."
Steven McInulty, of Heathcote Street, Coventry, admitted dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and furnishing false particulars.
He was filmed by one of a group of young people gathered on a grass verge driving his Citroen Saxo up and down Faraday Avenue in Coleshill, Warwickshire.
The crowd can be heard laughing and cheering in the footage - which was posted on YouTube - as he erratically switches lanes and undertakes other vehicles.
Warwick Crown Court heard McInulty had a "significant record" of motoring offences and was on licence at the time of the incident, on June 5 last year, after being released from a prison sentence for robbery.
Suspending his eight-month sentence for two years, Recorder Richard Atkins QC told him: "When the police officer went after you, you then drove appallingly.
"You caused all sorts of vehicles to have to take evasive action as you drove the wrong way. And you then drove past your pals, who all thought it was tremendously funny and who had the stupidity to film you.
"What you did, it is lucky nobody was killed or seriously injured."
The judge said it was "more by luck than judgment" that the incident did not have serious repercussions.
He told McInulty, who was dressed in a light grey tracksuit, that he was reserving the case to himself so that he could personally deal with him if he breached the terms of the suspension.
He said: "I am not going to forget that piece of driving. I know that road and I will remember you.
"And I will tell you here and now, you will remember me, won't you?"
The defendant replied: "Yes."
McInulty, who works for a scrap metal merchant, was ordered to pay costs of £1,800 and complete 200 hours of unpaid work. The judge also made him the subject of a 30-day activity order.
He was given a three-year driving ban, after which time he will have to sit an extended test.