A DRINK driver was arrested after a police chase through the streets of Malvern which ended with a crash between his vehicle and the pursuing police car.

Lewis Meredith, aged 30, of Bridge Street, Ledbury, admitted driving with excess alcohol, failing to stop, careless driving, driving without insurance and possession of heroin when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court.

When the chase ended with the crash Meredith was found to be nearly three times the limit with a reading of 101mcg in 100ml of breath, the legal limit being 35mcg. Police said he could have easily ploughed into another car or a pedestrian as he sped away from them.

Sarah Stock, prosecuting, said Meredith was at the BP garage in Malvern just off the A449 on April 26 at around 12.20am. Police pulled into the garage to ask if everything was okay. They noticed Meredith, the driver, appeared ‘heavily intoxicated’ and he ‘stumbled backward’.

Mrs Stock said Meredith, who was behind the wheel of Fiat Brava, ‘accelerated with wheel spin off the forecourt’, crossed Worcester Road and entered Victoria Park Road. Officers followed, activating their blue lights.

As the car entered a play area car park at speed, Meredith performed a handbrake turn which led to the crash.

At the station Meredith produced two wraps of heroin.

Meredith said he had been out drinking with his friend in a pub in Ledbury who had given him two wraps of heroin worth about £20. During the evening he decided to visit a friend in Malvern.

He will be sentenced at Worcester Magistrates Court on May 29 and was handed an interim driving ban.