Man pleads guilty after five police cars involved in crash

A personal trainer who was taking a woman out on a first date has admitted to dangerous driving after a chase that ended in a devastating crash involving five police cars.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Mazyar Azarbonyad, 20, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop twice and having no licence and no insurance during the crash on 9 April, which also left seven officers requiring hospital treatment.

He further admitted to getting back behind the wheel to go to work while on police bail following the pile-up, despite having no licence and no insurance. He was granted conditional bail after entering the guilty pleas at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court yesterday. He is due to be sentenced next month.

The court heard Azarbonyad was driving a powerful BMW, which police initially tried to stop in Swalwell, Gateshead, because a rear light was defective, but he sped away.

He was seen later approaching the A1 and was pursued towards Newcastle before the serious collision occurred near junction 75 at the Denton roundabout, where Raoul Moat shot PC David Rathband in 2010, leaving him blind.

The defendant, from Sylvia Terrace, Stanley, County Durham, was granted police bail after he was questioned about the early morning incident on the A1 – during which he told officers his driving had been “shit”.