A couple of articles taken from the BBC website
Former Premiership footballer Steve Claridge has been found guilty of dangerous driving. Coventry Crown Court heard he undertook cars at about 100mph in "treacherous" conditions on the M42 near Solihull, West Midlands, on 30 December 2006. Claridge, 42, who denied the charge, said he reached just above 70mph as he tried to exit the M42 to find a toilet.
He was pulled over by an unmarked police car on the southbound carriageway between junctions 4 and 3, the jury was told. Nigel Wilkins, prosecuting, accused Claridge of a "consistent piece of dangerous driving".
He said he drove at high speed on wet roads, repeatedly switching lanes, causing other motorists to "brake sharply in order to let him in".
The court heard that when he was pulled over, Claridge told police: "I was desperate for the toilet."
Pc Keith Dyson told the court: "As I started speaking to him, he started jumping up and down on the hard shoulder, holding his crotch and acting like a child who is desperate to go to the toilet." He added: "He continued to jump up and down in what I deemed to be an embarrassing action." Claridge told the court he was driving home from Blackpool after compiling a scouting report when he was pulled over in his silver Peugeot 307. He admitted undertaking two cars but denied driving dangerously. Speaking after the verdict, Claridge said: "I am really disappointed and shocked.
"It's going to affect my work, but I have got to accept the decision now and I have got to get on with it." He will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in the week commencing 9 June.
In Another Incident
14-year-old old boy has been sentenced to youth detention for stealing a car and driving it at more than 110mph in a police pursuit. The child, who cannot be named, drove the VW Touran 30 miles from Hull to Scunthorpe chased by five police cars and a police helicopter.
Hull Magistrates' Court was told the boy, then aged 13, was arrested after he crashed into three parked cars.
He was sentenced to eight months in youth detention.
The youth was told at sentencing that he had endangered the lives of dozens of motorists and pedestrians. The court heard the boy stole the car from the Hull care home at which he was staying following an argument about his pocket money. He sped off from the city centre, weaving in and out of traffic on the Humber Bridge at more than 80mph. Then, pursued by the police cars, he drove past a roadblock and along the hard shoulder of the M180 at more than 110mph. When he reached Scunthorpe he crashed into the parked cars and fled on foot, before being arrested
