Man sentenced for dangerous driving

A man has been sentenced after driving dangerously at a car meet.

Keiron Forde, aged 25 and of Orchard Close, Attleborough appeared before Norwich Crown Court on Monday (22 January 2024) after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and failing to stop for police at an earlier hearing. He has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

This sentence relates to an incident on the evening of Sunday 9 July 2023 when police attended reports of a large number of cars being driven in an anti-social manner on the NDR in Norwich.

At around 10pm, officer’s attention was drawn to a black Subaru Impreza which was being driven in a dangerous manner. Forde failed to stop for police and fled the scene towards Norwich. The car’s speed reached 100mph in a 30mph zone and overtook another car whilst on a traffic light controlled pedestrian crossing, causing the member of public to brake.

Forde continued to drive through a red light at a speed of 88mph, before driving on the Norwich ring road and overtaking other vehicles in a dangerous manner and at speed. He continued to drive towards residential areas, dangerously overtaking other vehicles and repeatedly travelling on the wrong side of the road. Forde then ignored a no entry sign and drove the wrong way on a one-way street. At this point, officers stopped following the vehicle due to safety concerns, but the driver was located a short while later and was arrested during the early hours of the following morning.

Forde was arrested on Monday 10 July 2023 at his home address on suspicion of dangerous driving and failing to stop. He was taken to Wymondham Police Investigation Centre for questioning before being released on bail. He was later charged on Thursday 23 November 2023 with dangerous driving and failing to stop.

This week (Monday 22 January 2024), Keiron Forde has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, disqualified from driving for 12 months, ordered to complete an extended driving test, 80 hours of unpaid work requirement and 15 days rehabilitation activity.

Inspector Will Drummond of the Roads and Armed Policing Team said: “It is great to see results like this as we work to remove dangerous drivers from Norfolk’s roads.

“Op Octane, our approach to vehicle related anti-social behaviour, is proving to be an effective tool which produces impactful results such as this one.

“We will continue to tackle those who choose to put the lives of fellow road users at risk and disrupt their local communities.”