As police were helping him from the wreck he rounded on them saying: “Some idiot threw out spikes. You could have killed me!”

Latham then insisted that his driving had been “fine” until that moment, prosecutor Alan Lovett told Carlisle Crown Court yesterday.

And he said he had been in full control of his car, even though he hit nearly twice the legal speed limit on a wet road with poor visibility.

He did, though, admit that he had accelerated away from the police following him because he knew he was driving a stolen car, Mr Lovett said.

Latham, of Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, was jailed for 14 months and banned from driving for five years when he pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

He had originally also been accused of taking the car without its owner’s consent, but that charge was dropped by the prosecution.

The court heard Latham had more than 120 previous convictions – including numerous driving offences – and had been to prison three times before for dangerous driving.

Defence counsel Keith Thomas said Latham had been driving normally until the police started chasing him, having spotted him in the stolen car.

“Until the police initiated the chase he had not come to the adverse notice of anyone as regards his driving,” he said. “It was only when they put their siren on because they were after him that he accelerated to the speed he did.”

The judge, Recorder John Altham, told Latham: “You presented a danger not only to yourself but also to other people on the motorway. It is difficult to imagine that you were truly in control of your vehicle.“