An Oldham man rammed into two police cars and reached "colossal" speeds during a chase.

Andrew Jackson, 29, of Colchester Walk, Oldham, appeared at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday, April 28 after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and criminal damage.

Prosecutor Emily Land told the court that on March 29 at around 6.45pm an officer was on patrol in a marked police car in Oldham when they noticed a black Toyota “significantly increase” its speed as it went past.

The officer pursued the car which began to overtake other vehicles, hitting speeds of over 60mph despite being in a 30mph zone.

The car, later found to be driven by Jackson, proceeded to go through two sets of red lights and forced its way through traffic causing other drivers to take evasive action.

The police officer called for back-up and was joined by another police car.

Jackson drove to Henshaw Street before turning left onto Lord Street where he mounted the pavement and began travelling down the footpath.

A tyre deflation device was deployed by the police and despite one of the car’s rear tyres being deflated Jackson drove on and narrowly missed another motorist before attempting to ram into one of the police cars.

Jackson then brought the car to a stop and was “boxed in” by the two police cars that blocked his car from the front and rear.

At this point Jackson rammed his car into the police car in front causing the officer inside to suffer whiplash before reversing into the police car behind him and driving off.

The police chase continued until Jackson crashed into a parked vehicle. He attempted to flee but was captured and taken to Ashton Police Station.

The pursuit lasted 12 minutes in total.

The court heard that Jackson has 20 previous convictions for 41 offences and has been convicted of driving whilst disqualified on four previous occasions and dangerous driving on two previous occasions.

Defence barrister Sonya O’Brien said she could offer no personal mitigation for Jackson that would make any “material difference” to his sentence but called on the judge to give him credit for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Passing sentence, Recorder Graham Wells said the custody threshold had been “well and truly passed” and that Jackson had committed the “highest level” of dangerous driving.

He added that Jackson had gone through shopping, living, and commercial areas at “colossal speed” and that it was a “great mercy” that no members of the public were affected other than the owner of the parked vehicle that Jackson crashed into.

Judge Wells sentenced Jackson to 22 months in prison and disqualified him from driving for five years and 11 months.