But as Lee Stewart vanished after getting out of his Audi, it was almost seven hours later that the drug test was taken, and a court heard that it could not be proved when he had taken the cocaine.
A video of his driving episode was played at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, where the 47-year-old Amazon delivery driver told the judge: “I was quite embarrassed to watch that again.”
Stewart, of Central Way, near Warrington town centre, had denied dangerous driving, but he later admitted a charge of careless driving, which was accepted by the prosecution.
He also pleaded guilty to failing to stop when required by the police.
Henry Riding, prosecuting, said that at about 10.20pm on December 21, 2023, a female police officer in an unmarked police car saw his Audi A4 go through a gap in the central reservation of Winwick Road.
Initially, he had been travelling towards the motorway, and when the officer illuminated her car’s emergency equipment, Stewart failed to stop and drove off at speed.
Mr Riding said that at one point in the journey, he forced his way through a small gap in the traffic and then turned left.
She followed him as he reached 64mph in a 30mph zone and turned onto residential streets, before pulling up outside the first house on Cowdell Street in Orford.
Here, Stewart ran inside, shut the door and did not open it to her.
Stewart was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court
Six minutes after he arrived at the house, the officer saw him leave via the back of the property and escape through the rear garden.
At 1.54am he rang Cheshire Police to say he was aware they had been looking for him and would wait for them at Cowdell Street, the court hears.
At 5am, the same officer arrived and he provided a positive drugs swipe.
A subsequent blood test showed cocaine in his system, said Mr Riding, but the Crown decided to discontinue a prosecution for drug driving as it was ‘not possible to do a back calculation so it could not be proven when he had taken the cocaine’.
Sam Eskdale, defending, said that Stewart has no previous convictions, and that at the time of the offences, the dad-of-four was going through a ‘difficult patch in his mental health’, as he and his partner had broken up and have since divorced.
He is a driver for Amazon on a self-employed basis but is studying ‘the knowledge’ to become a taxi driver.
It was said that he also ‘needs his licence for doing the school run for his children’.
Recorder Peter Cowan highlighted the ‘high speed and aggressive nature’ of Stewart’s driving, but fined him a total of £975 and ordered him to pay £200 towards the prosecution costs.
He also imposed seven penalty points on his driving licence.