A pursuit by Nottinghamshire Police will be hitting television screens on Wednesday, June 22, as the new series of Police Interceptors begins on Channel 5 at 8pm. The first episode of the new series sees a teenage driver ram into police cars as part of a desperate attempt to evade capture, testing the officer's driving skills.
Officers had been informed of a cloned vehicle in Blyth which was spotted and followed. The driver failed to stop and a high-speed pursuit took place, which saw him drive on the wrong side of the road and through red traffic lights.
Members of Nottinghamshire Police's road crime team tried to stop the Toyota Avensis, but the driver rammed two police cars numerous times. No injuries were caused but the two police cars sustained major damage.
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The driver tried to continue with his journey despite losing two tyres after officers used a stinger to try and bring the car to a stop on the night of September 15, 2021.
Officers made tactical contact with the car to end the pursuit, forcing it onto a grass verge, before the driver was arrested. Bill Nicholson, aged 18 at the time, of Chichester Walk, Carlton-in-Lindrick, went on to plead guilty to charges of dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance. He was given a nine month sentence to be served in a young offender institute, suspended for 18 months.
Bill was also made subject of a three-month electronically-tagged curfew, and was banned from driving for 12 months, plus an extension period of three months until an extended test had been passed. Police Constable Dan Butler said: “Nicholson drove at speeds of over 75mph and showed blatant disregard for the safety of other road users throughout the pursuit and any members of the public who may have been nearby."
He continued: "The stinger was successful but seemed to have little effect on his manner of driving. I could see the near side tyres disintegrating but the vehicle continued to fail to stop, weaving on both sides of the carriageway. The lives of members of the public were risked in his attempt to avoid arrest. If the car hadn’t been stung this incident could easily have resulted in someone being killed.”
In addition to this incident, the new episode will also feature members of the force's dedicates knife crime team arresting a driver on suspicion of drug dealing, which with further enquiries leads them to seize a hefty haul of suspected Class A drugs worth thousands of pounds.
The episode will also show Police Constable Phil Broughton investigating a report of a boy shot in the face with a BB gun in Sutton-In-Ashfield, and it doesn’t take him long to find a suspect and safely retrieve the weapon after questioning a group of youngsters.
