A dangerous driver who was spared jail breached his suspended sentence terms after being sent home from an unpaid work appointment for ‘wearing shorts.’

Andrew Taylor, aged 38 of St George Street, Tyldesley, had initially been sentenced after leading police on an eight-minute chase through Westhoughton, Atherton and Tyldesley, reaching speeds of over 90mph on 40mph limit roads.

He avoided jail when being sentenced in April this year but has now been brought back to Bolton Crown Court after missing unpaid work appointments on July 12 and 19.

Nicholas Ross, defending, said: “What seems to have triggered the breach in this case is turning up to one of the appointments in shorts in 24-degree weather, getting on to 29 degrees.”

He added: “Quite what one is supposed to wear in this kind of temperature, I don’t know.”

Taylor’s dangerous driving on February 14 this year had included driving on the wrong side of the road, heading through red lights and the wrong way down a one-way street in a VW Golf that had been stolen the previous day.

He was pursued by police officers, including a police helicopter, before abandoning his car and fleeing into the Boar’s Head in Church Street, Leigh where he was caught.

Katherine Wright, prosecuting, explained that Taylor’s initial sentence, of 12 months suspended for two years, included a requirement to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

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She said that on one of the missed appointments he had “behaved in an unacceptable manner in his workplace”, with Mr Ross elaborating that he had been sent home after arriving for work in shorts.

On the second occasion, according to Mr Ross, he had contracted Covid-19 but he acknowledged that Taylor should have kept probation services informed.

Judge Elliott Knopf added another ten hours to his Taylor's unpaid work requirement.  

He said: “I’m going to give you a chance now of not activating that order, to make it absolutely clear it is your obligation to keep in touch with the probation service.”

He added: “If you’ve got a problem, tell them.”