A drink driver who made a two-fingered gesture to the chief constable
of Durham Police on the A1 has been given a 12-week suspended jail
sentence.
Tracy Kelsey was chased and arrested by Chief Constable Jon Stoddart
after he undertook and weaved in front of his unmarked car at Bowburn
on 8 February.
Consett Magistrates’ Court heard the 44-year-old, of Darlington, was
almost four times the drink-drive limit.
He was also banned from driving for five years.
Chief Constable Stoddart, speaking after the hearing, said: “I
noticed a car coming up behind me driving very fast without any
lights.
“He undertook me and I attracted his attention by sounding my horn
and he stuck two fingers up at me.
“As a result of that he then weaved in front of me causing myself and
another car to take evasive action.
“So I put on my blues and twos [flashing lights and siren] and
basically pursued him for a small while and pulled him over at the
Bowburn interchange.”
The court heard that Kelsey, of Spring Hill, regularly drank 10 pints
of lager a day and that he had been caught drink driving for the
first time when he was just 14.
In 1994 he had also been given a six-month jail sentence for drink
driving, the court was told.