A personal trainer who was taking a woman out on a first date has admitted to dangerous driving after a chase which ended in a devastating crash involving five police cars.
Mazyar Azarbonyad, 20, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop twice and having no licence and no insurance during the crash on 9 April, which left five police vehicles damaged and seven officers in hospital.
He further admitted to getting back behind the wheel to go to work while on police bail following the pile-up, despite having no licence and no insurance.
He was granted conditional bail after entering the guilty pleas at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on Saturday. He is due to be sentenced next month.
The court heard Azarbonyad was driving a powerful BMW which police initially tried to stop in Swalwell, Gateshead, because a rear light was defective, but he sped away.
He was seen later approaching the A1 and was pursued towards Newcastle before the serious collision occurred near junction 75 at the Denton roundabout, where Raoul Moat shot PC David Rathband in 2010, leaving him blind.
The Iran-born defendant, from Sylvia Terrace, Stanley, County Durham, was granted police bail after he was questioned about the early morning incident on the A1 – during which he told officers his driving had been “shit”.
And just two days later he was back behind the wheel, driving a red Hyundai on 11, 12, 13 and 15 April to get to work at a gym in Newcastle, despite being warned not to drive and having no licence or insurance.
Police saw him on a garage forecourt filling his vehicle up with fuel and arrested Azarbonyad before he told them about other times he had driven since the crash.
Simon Worthy, prosecuting, said: “One would have thought as a matter of common sense that having been involved in something of this seriousness, plastered all over the press, the TV, the newspapers, online, that you would have been a bit more sensible about your activities, having been so lucky to get out of an accident only two days before.
“But no, no, you continue to stick two fingers up.”
Mr Worthy said on the night of the major collision, Azarbonyad had eventually slowed down after being surrounded by police vehicles, then another unmarked car coming from behind collided with them.
He said: “In the defendant’s vehicle was a lady who was on her first date with him.”
Jack Lovell, defending, said Azarbonyad worked as a self-employed personal trainer at a gym in Newcastle, did not claim benefits and had no previous convictions.
He was supported after coming to the UK from Iran aged 15 or 16 but that stopped when he became an adult and he has lived alone, independently.
Mr Lovell said the defendant had shown genuine remorse for his actions.
He had been “very foolish” to get back behind the wheel, the solicitor said, and made full and further admissions about driving the Hyundai to work.
On the night of the crash, Azarbonyad was on his way to drop his date off home when he came to the attention of the police.
“He tells me at that point it is immediate panic,” the solicitor said.
He was aware he had no insurance and the woman had made reference to being in “possession of cannabis”, Mr Lovell said.
The defendant knew he should have pulled over immediately, Mr Lovell said, but after getting on the A1 and driving some distance, he did slow down, put his indicators on and gestured out of the window with his hand to show he was braking, the court heard.
Mr Lovell said a number of the police vehicles manoeuvred around the BMW and helicopter footage showed he was “essentially at a stop” when a following unmarked police Volvo, which had earlier reached speeds of 135mph, collided with them at around 80mph.
“From there, there is something of a domino effect, it flips over and then the other police vehicles are also involved,” Mr Lovell said.
“I am not in any way trying to excuse – he should not have been driving the vehicle, it is his driving that has led to the incident on the A1. He accepts that by way of his guilty plea.”
Chair of the Bench Philip Hutchinson granted Azarbonyad bail on condition that he does not get behind the wheel of any vehicle and that he abides by a 10pm – 8am curfew to stay at his address.
He will be sentenced on 20 May at Newcastle Crown Court.
