AN ‘impatient’ speeding driver who smashed into three cars and narrowly missed a pedestrian has been spared jail.

Abrar Hajee appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.

The court heard the 24-year-old of Browning Close, Halliwell, drove at speed on St Helens Road from Bolton town centre at around 5.20pm on September 28, last year.

As he approached the junction with Morris Green Lane and Deane Church Lane queueing traffic was stationary as the lights were red.

The 24-year-old proceeded to drive his white Audi A7 “at speed and on the wrong side of the road, overtaking stationary traffic,” Simon Barrett, prosecuting, said.

When Hajee reached the lights they had just turned green, but two cars were still turning from Morris Green Lane/Deane Church Lane into St Helens Road.

CCTV showed the two cars beginning to turn from the junction into St Helens Road, before Hajee appears at a high speed, hitting both turning cars before losing control and hitting another car and the traffic lights on the other side of the junction.

Hajee narrowly misses a pedestrian walking up St Helens Road towards the junction after he loses control.

Mr Barrett said it was not known exactly how fast Hajee was driving, but that he was “travelling at speed and overtaking vehicles” on the wrong side of the road. He caused “extensive damage” to the cars he hit and the “pedestrian there was lucky not to have been struck”.

Defending Hajee, Richard Dawson, said it was a “brief but obviously seriously dangerous manoeuvre” with Hajee driving above the speed limit.

But he stressed that he is a “young man in his early 20s of an otherwise good character”.

Mr Dawson said Hajee understood that his behaviour was “foolish” and it was a “flawed” decision that he thought he could take the opportunity to cut around the stationary cars which may not have resulted in a crash but in this example it did.

Sentencing, Recorder Jonathan Gavaghan said this incident could have been “very much worse” as nobody was injured.

“There was no genuine reason for you to rush and you were just impatient and didn’t want to wait,” Mr Gavaghan said.

“You started to blame others for the car crash despite your dangerous driving. You drove fast in a built up area in rush hour with no proper thought for others’ safety.”

Mr Gavaghan added that Hajee understood the “gravity” of his wrongdoing and “remorse” for what he did.

Hajee was sentenced to a community order including 160 hours unpaid work and was disqualified from driving for two years.