A BIRMINGHAM man has been jailed after leading police on a 40-minute car chase at speeds of up to 120mph that even saw him race the wrong way down a busy motorway.

Mark Jones, from Rednal, rammed cars, weaved between lorries and mounted the curb in a desperate attempt to flee the police.

Spectacular footage, released by Derbyshire Police, showed him trying to outmanoeuvre the police by hurtling back down the wrong carriageway of the M1 and going up a slip road – narrowly avoiding a head-on smash with coming cars.

His luck eventually ran out when he became caught up in traffic and cops dragged him out of the car while pointing a taser stun gun at his head.

Police described it as “one of the worst cases of dangerous driving Derbyshire has ever seen”.

Jones, aged 28, of Shapinsay Drive, is now behind bars after being jailed for 16 months at Derby Crown Court following his guilty plea to dangerous driving. He was also banned from driving for five years.

South Yorkshire Police alerted Derbyshire Constabulary at 12.45pm on March 18 after Jones had failed to stop his Vauxhall Insignia when requested to by their officers and raced off along the M1 into Derbyshire.

Officers pursued Jones along the M1, where he drove on the hard shoulder, narrowly missing several cars and lorries, footage from the police helicopter showed.

At one point, he drove the wrong way down the carriageway. He then drove along the A38 to Ripley, weaving between traffic, before officers detained him back on the A38, near junction 28 of the M1.

Officer in the case PC Mark Hallam, of the Roads Policing Unit, said: “This was probably one of the worst cases of dangerous driving Derbyshire has ever seen.

“He rammed several police cars, did a U-turn on the motorway and drove at ridiculous speeds on the hard shoulder.

“It was a joint effort to stop him in a pursuit that lasted more than 40 minutes.”

The court imposed no separate penalty on Jones for using a vehicle without insurance and driving otherwise than in accordance with his licence.