A low-speed police pursuit ended when a clapped-out Vauxhall stuttered to a halt and a car thief made a bolt for it across the A90 dual carriageway.
Disqualified driver Craig Tynan barely made it beyond the busy road before he was captured, with the test-drive theft costing the Dundee 26-year-old seven months behind bars.
Tynan, a prisoner at Perth, appeared with co-accused Alistair Montague, 25, of Buttars Road, Dundee, at Forfar Sheriff Court on a string of charges arising from the incident on November 30, when they went to the Angus town to buy the old Astra which could not make it much above 40mph.
Montague has denied motoring and drugs charges and will face trial in December, but Tynan pleaded guilty to stealing a car, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified and without insurance.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said the Astra was in poor condition and kept cutting out.
After Montague had tried the vehicle, Tynan hopped into the driver’s seat and his co-accused then also left in another vehicle. The seller of the Astra feared they were stealing the car and called police, who spotted Tynan on Forfar’s West High Street and began a pursuit.
Ms Drummond said Tynan drove through a set of traffic lights at red on the wrong side of the road, narrowly missing other cars, before continuing to ignore the sirens and flashing lights of chasing police and overtaking traffic in the face of oncoming vehicles.
“The chase didn’t get much above 40 miles per hour, which appeared to be the limit of the car’s capability,” said Ms Drummond.
Tynan then hit the A90 dual carriageway, straddling the centre lane to prevent pursuing police from passing, but his escape bid ground to a halt when the Astra began to slow.
“He abandoned the vehicle and ran off across the northbound carriageway, but was pursued through a ditch and into a field and caught,” the fiscal added.
Tynan’s lawyer Jim Laverty said things had gone “horribly wrong” after they went to Forfar to see the car.
“The person who owned the vehicle thought it was being stolen and I think he took the view that if that’s what they thought then he might as well take it.
“He was not counting on the involvement of the police,” Mr Laverty said.
“He may have had a better chance on a pedal cycle.”
Jailing Tynan and banning him from the road for five years, Sheriff Gregor Murray said: “You have what can only be categorised as a dreadful record for road traffic offences.”