A MOTORIST who deliberately crashed into another car at 80mph has had his driving ban extended after getting behind the wheel while disqualified.

Neil Harrison was jailed for a year in 2018 after ramming the vehicle on the M6 before scaling a bridge, causing the motorway to be shut for hours.

The 30-year-old, of Bridge Street in the town centre, was also banned from the roads for four years at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting dangerous driving, causing a public nuisance, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

But he was caught driving a 19-plate BMW X5 by police on Chester Road in March this year.

Harrison was brought before Warrington Magistrates Court on Friday, May 7, where he pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

The dad also admitted failing to surrender to bail, having not attended court when he was due to appear the previous day.

Magistrates handed him a 12-month community order including a 16-week curfew from 8pm to 6am and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 20 days, and banned him from driving for a further 30 months.

Harrison was also told to pay a £95 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs.

The incident which resulted in his initial disqualification occurred on a Monday evening in August 2018.

He deliberately crashed into the rear of a vehicle on the southbound carriageway near to junction 19 at Knutsford while under the influence of cocaine in an apparent suicide attempt.

Travelling at 80mph in an area where the speed limit was 50mph due to roadworks, his car spun and crashed into the central reservation.

Harrison then climbed onto a motorway bridge, with the M6 closed for two-and-a-half hours until he was talked down by police officers.

No parties suffered serious injuries, but both vehicles were written off after the collision.

Sentencing on this occasion, recorder Andrew Long said: "In the first part of 2018, your life unravelled and you decided to kill yourself by driving your car at high speed and deliberately crashing.

"Your victim was very shaken up and continues to suffer from the effects of their brush with death - it was obviously traumatic for them.

"This is a grave offence – you made a conscious decision to cause a serious collision, and you must have realised that you would cause serious injuries or possibly death to the occupants of the other car.

"The fact that no one was seriously hurt or killed is no thanks to you.

"It is heartening to know that you are getting your life back on track, and I'm also aware that you will find any prison sentence very onerous due to your disability.

"However, you are responsible for causing a grave public nuisance and clearly nothing but an immediate prison sentence of some length is justified."