scoobynutta555

Ferrari and Lotus drivers led police on high-speed chase
By Matt Born
(Filed: 22/10/2002)


Two City workers were fined and banned from driving yesterday after leading police on a high-speed chase through London in their high-performance sports cars.

The highly-paid IT consultants, one in a Ferrari and the other in a Lotus, sped around blind bends and roundabouts, ran a red light and accelerated so fast over a bridge that officers were unable to get a reading of how fast they were going, Southwark Crown Court was told.

At one point, the unmarked police car following them reached 86 mph on a busy road, only for the two sports cars to accelerate again and leave it trailing in their wake.

Brian Hooper, 28, who owned the Ferrari, and Jonathon Waring, 21, who was driving his Lotus, were convicted of careless driving last year, despite claiming that they thought the unmarked black Vauxhall Omega following them contained would-be carjackers.

Judge Stephen Robbins disqualified Waring, who had six points on his licence for previous speeding offences, for six months. Hooper was banned for six weeks.

He fined them each £500 and ordered them to pay £800 towards prosecution costs, saying: "You both drove at speeds that demonstrated little consideration for other road users."

The judge also ordered both to pay their defence costs after expressing "surprise" that they had been legally aided. Waring earns about £90,000 a year before bonuses working for Barclays Bank while Hooper was paid about £96,000 last year.

Hooper, of Limehouse, east London, and Waring, of nearby Poplar, were first seen by police at about 8.20pm one Friday as they headed eastwards out of the capital.

Officers watched as Hooper's red Ferrari and Waring's blue and white Lotus emerged from the Limehouse Link tunnel in east London, and decided to follow them "on a whim".

After joining a three-lane carriageway, the two super cars, by this time being filmed by the onboard police camera, immediately accelerated. "We reached 75mph and they were travelling faster, leaving us," Pc Steven Willis told the court.

In evidence, Waring said Hooper had called him on his mobile phone to warn him that they were being followed by a black saloon and that it could contain car-jackers.

I think this is a bit unfair and borders on entrapment. Its said that the two cars were only followed on a whim by the plods. It could be said that the cars were only speeding because they thought they were being followed by car jackers.

cookiemonster

er... hi jackers with flashing blue lights in the grill ?



nice try...

Da Booga

21 years old and £90,000 per year BEFORE bonuses!
Thats more than I will earn in 5 years.

Nathan L

Being followed by car-jackers.

What a crock of sh1te.

Regacy

must be worth a try when you're in it that deep....

scoob_dood

It was the ban and fine that amazed me, not overly harsh given the alledged speeds ?

- Jon

Mice_Elf

That excuse only "may" work if you're a lone female and even then, bearing in mind that they both had mobile phones and, one assumes, handsfree kits , they should have rung the police to say "Matey boy here - we think he's a car-jacker"...that would have given their story just a smidgeon more credence.....

As it is, they were pratts, pure and simple.

(Not that I've never done <ahem> miles an hour, but never through London FGS....how'd they find roads free of congestion??? )

[Edited by Mice_Elf - 10/22/2002 11:42:33 AM]

scoobynutta555

police say that they werent speeding while they were following them at the beginning, reasonable to assume in the eyes of a judge that its possible that they might have got spooked by a big car following them with 2 big blokes in. After all blue lights in a grille wont come on if the police are just following you, they will come on after they decide to pull you over, and im assuming that both cars did pull over as it doesnt say otherwise on the story. And with reported of people being shot for their cars, id be inclined to boot it to the local factory rather than wait about calling plod.

The bit i most liked was that they were on legal aid!

ProperCharlie

and since when is a lotus a supercar?

carl

Depends what sort of Lotus.

davyboy

The only suprising thing in that story is.......do 21 year olds really earn that much in the city?

I mean you can't exaclty come out of uni and earn that surely?

The worlds gone mad

****!

ProperCharlie

90k+ salary and lives in Poplar? I suppose he'll be going up market and moving to Canning Town as soon as a suitable penthouse comes on the market. Just have to evict the pirate radio boys first.

davyboy

What the **** can he pick up in just a few years work? Whatever happend to experience!

I assume he studied for some years? Therefore he has about 3 years experience.

Tiggs

"I mean you can't exaclty come out of uni and earn that surely"

no, get your head out of your book and leave school at 16- get a job and work for your money.

T

davyboy

I did just that

I would assume any emplyer paying that would want a graduate.

Barnaby

You would be suprised. The private school down the road from where I was brought up used to send 18 year olds to work in the City, straight into high paying jobs!

I think they said it was down to having good 'contacts'.

merkin

IT consultants, I have no idea, but the days of barrow boy 21 year old traders are LONG gone

Barnaby

Well I was talking about 15 years ago

GaryK

or it could be (for the consultant anyway) that they took his weekly draw and annualised it. 2k a week is pretty common in IT consultancy (not so much now but a couple of years ago!)

Gary

AnDy_PaNdY

Not even the old boy network could get them off, damn shame

shocker

earned £56k just working as a spark in london 15 years ago , some of the suits were spending £5000 a bet in the bookies so just imagain what there wages were, back to the topic ,small fines i see wonder how much of there £96k went on back handers