Police could not keep up with ‘racing’ off-duty postman – even when going 155mph

An off-duty postman was driving so fast police could not keep up with him as he raced another driver at up to 155mph.

Father-of-two Daniel Grantham’s “two minutes of madness” began when he was goaded by a stranger in another car.

A police officer gave chase from junction 26 of the M1 four miles along the A610, on the outskirts of Nottingham, the city’s crown court heard.

“The officer observed two vehicles, one driven by the defendant, speeding off,” said Katrina Wilson, prosecuting.

“The drivers of the vehicles were effectively racing one another. In order to keep up as best he could with this defendant and the officer vehicle, the officer found himself travelling at 155mph. At one stage he could see the tail lights in the distance but not much else.”

Grantham, 28, of Hepworth Drive, Giltbrook, ended up at a roundabout travelling back towards Eastwood in his BMW and slowed down for the officer.

“This defendant gestured in what is described as an apologetic manner through the window,” explained Miss Wilson.

The driver in the other car had long gone into the distance and was never to be seen again.

Grantham admitted racing the other vehicle. He said the other car was driven by another young man who was goading him.

Miss Wilson said: “He knew he was taking a risk for his own wellbeing, the wellbeing of his girlfriend and other road users, and went on to say he was stupid.”

There had been no real connection between him and the driver of the other vehicle, other than “goading through windscreens”, said Miss Wilson.

She played dashcam footage from the police car following the two cars after 9.30pm on May 11.

Grantham’s partner had been in the passenger seat at the time.  He told the judge she was saying throughout “be careful”.

One stretch of the road was 40mph and then it moved to 50mph where the officers speed monitor hit 148mph.

The footage showed it rising over 150mph, before slowing after the roundabout and stopping behind Grantham’s BMW.

Graham Heathcote, mitigating, said his client had agoraphobia and had lived in his bedroom for two years and could not go to his mother’s wedding.

He is employed by the Royal Mail five days a week as a postman, is a father-of-two, and references spoke positively about him, he said.

“Twenty eight years potentially all thrown into the air for two minutes of madness,” said Mr Heathcote.

He also described it as a foolish incident. And he said Grantham’s vehicle had been tail gated and he reacted inappropriately.

When he was aware of the presence of police, he pulled to a halt.

Judge Timothy Spencer QC gave Grantham ten months in prison, suspended for two years, for “this one-off aberration”, and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.

He said to Grantham, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving: “What madness was this, Daniel Grantham? It was crazy wasn’t it?”

Grantham told him it was the only night he had been out with his partner and the children were at home. He described a car following him from Nottingham and tailgating him.