A teenager who drove the wrong way on a roundabout in Bath and then sped away from police as they tried to stop him has appeared in court to admit dangerous driving.
Bath magistrates heard from the prosecutor last Wednesday, 4th March, that Osric Leigh had ignored road signs and gone the wrong way around the Churchill Bridge gyratory in a VW Polo belonging to a friend’s mother.
The 19-year-old was seen swerving across three lanes, and the front of the car lifted off the ground as he sped away at around 60mph from police, who had their blue lights on.
Leigh, from Westfield, admitted driving on Pines Way dangerously on 19th October 2025 and failing to stop when required to do so by the police. He also admitted having no insurance at the time.
Duty solicitor Bradley Axam told the magistrates there was “significant mitigation”.
He said Leigh had taken out temporary insurance to drive the car, but it had lapsed as he had not expected to be out so late.
He had been driving friends to McDonald’s at around 1am and had made an “honest mistake” in turning the wrong way, but had made the “foolish mistake” not to stop when police put their lights on.
It was “all a blur in his mind” and he had just wanted to get out of the one-way system.
Mr Axam said there had been no near-misses and the police had not followed Leigh for a prolonged period; he had pulled up to see if they were still following him, but they weren’t.
The solicitor said Leigh expressed remorse. He suggested that magistrates could deal with Leigh’s case that day by imposing a short, suspended prison sentence.
Custody was “not inevitable or required in this case” and he asked them to follow the guidance of the Sentencing Act 2026 in which there is a presumption of suspended sentences.
The Act comes into effect on 22nd March with significant reforms to address prison capacity and to reform sentencing.
But magistrates adjourned the case for the Probation Service to prepare a pre-sentence report, describing it as “an extremely serious offence”.
Leigh will be back in the dock for sentencing on 29th April. Magistrates imposed an interim driving disqualification and granted him unconditional bail.
