A drink-driver who drove aggressively along the A55 with a child on board turned the car over on an embankment before fleeing the scene.
Mold Crown Court heard today how following a search, police arrested Leslie Paul Griffiths near Cwm, Dyserth.
Griffiths said he was looking for a place where his mobile phone would work.
He admitted a charge of dangerous driving in a VW Golf on the east-bound carriageway of the A55 near Rhuallt on July 25 last year.
Griffiths, 36, of Grampian Way, Winsford, also admitted driving with 91 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath compared to the legal limit of 35.
The defendant was jailed for ten months and banned from driving for three years – and he must take an extended driving test.
Judge Niclas Parry said that there were a number of aggravating features.
He was over the legal limit for alcohol, the driving was prolonged, he was carrying a young passenger, there was a collision, he caused injury and he fled the scene.
All that was against a background of an appalling motoring record which included nine previous convictions for driving while disqualified and six alcohol related convictions.
“Only a custodial sentence can be justified,” he said.
Prosecutor Emmalyne Downing said that it was at about 7 p.m. that a man driving a van in the outside lane saw the defendant approach him at speed and he started flashing his lights.
Griffiths’ car started weaving from side to side between the two lanes but the other driver was not able to pull in at that stage.
The defendant pulled up behind him and then pulled back, intimidating him.
When he was able to pull in the defendant “shot past him “and when he got behind another car he did the same thing again.
He undertook that vehicle then pulled out into lane two and did the same thing behind a third car.
But at that stage he lost control, the car slide sideways and went up an embankment and rolled back onto the hard shoulder.
Others went to help, he and a passenger got out, the battery was hanging down and it was disconnected by one of those who had stopped.
Griffiths, who had a bag which contained lager, was said to have slurred speech and when challenged he ran away.
Police searched the area, came across him near Cwm at 8 p.m. and a young female with him had bruising to the forehead.
He agreed that he had been drinking, that he crashed the car, and in panic he walked off.
The defendant gave a reading of 91 but even on his own account that he had taken alcohol after the crash, then it was calculated that he would still be over the limit, with a reading of 42, the prosecutor said.
He said that he knew his passenger was injured and was looking for a signal on his phone to obtain assistance.
Simon Rogers, defending, said that the defendant had been with his partner for 15 years, they had been married three years, they had two children and a step daughter.
His client did not believe that he was an alcoholic but accepted that he did binge drink and would benefit from assistance.
A prison sentence would have an effect on those dependent upon him.
Judge Parry commented that it was a long time since he had seen such a bad driving record
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/aggressive-a55-driver-overturned-car-10797759
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