WATCH this incredible police dash cam footage of stolen bus chase
This startling footage shows a 12-mile police pursuit of a stolen bus, which was driven through red lights in the Black Country and on the wrong side of the road.
Joyrider John Burton, who had been disqualified from driving, can be seen mounting the pavement and going the wrong way around an island on the footage, which has been released by West Midlands Police.
The bus, with two Black Country men as passengers, careered through a red traffic light without stopping, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard earlier this month.
Read how the joyriding bus thieves, who led police cars and helicopter on chase around the Black Country, were jailed
It was driven at up to 50 miles an hour.
It then went the wrong way round a traffic island, knocked down a road sign, clipped the kerb and tore off part of its bodywork in a collision with a fence, suffering £10,000 damage – but still did not stop, prosecutor Mr Ian Windridge revealed at court.
Burton was even undeterred when two tyres of the single decker were burst by a stinger laid across the road by police in a bid to stop it.
The vehicle continued on the wheel rims – and even overtook a car – while listing alarmingly and leaving a trail of smoke and sparks along Penn Road in Wolverhampton.
The Sandwell Travel bus finally came to a standstill in The Paddock, Bilston, where the driver and two passengers, Simon Loveland, 39, of Dale Close, Tipton, and Thomas Tibbs, 21, of Clinic Drive, Stourbridge, made a run for it but were quickly caught.
Two men were seen stealing it from the company's base in Tinsley Street, Tipton, on March 30, the court was told.
But the pursuit did not start until 2.20am the following day when it triggered an automatic number plate recognition camera while heading back towards Wolverhampton through Rudge Heath, near Claverley.
All pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking on the grounds of either driving or being carried in it. They had all been drinking, the court was told.
Judge James Burbidge QC jailed 38-year-old Burton, of Beaconsfield, Brookside, Telford, for 16 months and Loveland for a year.
They had 37 and 31 previous convictions respectively. Tibbs was given a six-month term.
