A TEENAGER who described himself as being “off his head on weed” drove at more than 120mph on the A55 dual carriageway in a bid to get away from police.

Teenager Scott Barlow told officers he had been throwing cannabis out of the window of the Ford Focus at the time.

He said he sped off because he panicked and did not want to be found with cannabis in his system – but got himself into deeper trouble.

The chase was caught on police dash cam footage, which was played at Mold Crown Court.

It showed him weaving from lane to lane, overtaking and undertaking and breaking the speed limits.

He dodged one stinger aimed at deflating his tyres but was caught by another near Llandudno Junction where he turned up a dead end and decamped with his two passengers. He was soon arrested.

Barlow, 19, of Tarbock Road in Huyton, Liverpool, was sentenced to 14 months youth detention after he admitted driving dangerously and with no insurance and failing to provide a blood test to see what drugs he had in his system.

He was banned from driving for 27 months and ordered to take an extended driving test.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said it was “a protracted and deliberate piece of bad driving” which involved him taking risks at very high speed for 28 miles from the Cheshire border to just outside Llandudno Junction.

“You said you had panicked because you had been smoking cannabis and that you had been throwing bags of cannabis during the pursuit,” he said.

Barlow had refused to provide a blood test but accepted he had been smoking cannabis.

He was a young driver with no great experience and his judgement would have been affected by the drug he had taken.

“I cannot ignore that you told the probation officer that you were ‘off your head on weed’ at the time.”

He had taken deliberate and real risks to try to get away and had driven at grossly excessive speed.

With two passengers he had driven at 110mph down Rhuallt Hill, where cameras were now being introduced because of concern about the speed of traffic.

Barlow, he said, drove through a 50mph area at Colwyn Bay at 120mph.

Judge Rowlands said there were a significant number of vehicles on the road at the time, and some drivers had to take evasive action.

He had put himself, his two passengers and other road users at risk of serious injury.

No one had been hurt but that, he said, was a matter of “sheer good fortune”.

Barlow had no previous convictions, although he had been cautioned at 15 for possessing cannabis.

Judge Rowlands said Barlow came from a good family but was no longer in contact with them as a result of having a drugs debt and he had essentially fallen in with a bad crowd.

“I have no doubt at all that part of that bad crowd were with you that evening and egging you on,” he declared.

Barrister Andrew Green, prosecuting, said Cheshire Police first pursued the car on September 22 last year but he accelerated away into Wales.

The pursuit was taken over by North Wales officers near Rhuallt Hill.

Police officers reached 124mph trying to keep up with Barlow.

Other drivers had to take evasive action and at one stage he overtook a car in lane two travelling through a gap between the vehicle in front and the central reservation.

He managed to avoid one stinger device but a second was successfully deployed and the pursuit ended near Llandudno Junction.

Interviewed, he agreed he had been foolish and put lives at risk but said he could not give a blood test because of a fear of needles.

Laura Preston-Hayes, defending, said her client had told the probation service he could not do a community order or unpaid work but that was because he was naïve and did not understand.

He knew his driving had been “wholly inappropriate and particularly dangerous”.

It was his case that his girlfriend was on holiday, had been taken ill and he was on his way to pick her up but events took a different course.

His immaturity was shown by the fact that he had committed a more serious offence of dangerous driving because he did not want to be caught with cannabis in his system, she said.

Miss Preston-Hayes suggested a suspended sentence.