TEN MINUTES OF MADNESS
Wednesday 28th January 2009, 6:00PM GMT.
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This is the YouTube menace filmed driving at more than 100mph between Shrewsbury and Telford.
The boy racer is seen tailgating other drivers, taking his hands off the wheel while he sorts through CDs and reaching speeds of up to 105mph as he attempts to complete the journey in just 10 minutes.
Watch the video in our player. Warning: It contains strong language.
Comments are now closed on this story.
Now police have launched an urgent investigation in a bid to trace the driver, who they say was putting other people’s lives at risk.
The video on the social networking site shows the young man driving at high speeds along the A5 and M54 during the journey from Shrewsbury College, in London Road, to Tesco in Wellington.
He is also seen driving with his hands off the wheel, steering with his knees, while searching through CDs.
Maria Hawkaluk, spokeswoman for West Mercia Police, said the force had launched an investigation in a bid to uncover the identity of the driver, whose face is clearly seen on the video.
She said: “Police have been made aware of the incident and will be taking steps to identify the driver and take the appropriate action.
“There has been cases elsewhere in the country where people have been prosecuted. Such behaviour is very dangerous for both those in the car itself and any other road users. This driver was putting his and other people’s lives at risk and police will do everything they can to try and identify him.”
The video was posted on YouTube on November 17 last year by “pimmytowell” and has been viewed almost 100 times.
The information about the video is entitled “Mike driving from Shrewsbury” and carries the transcript of the conversation between the driver and the youth filming.
They talk about one passenger being worried and about how they would be dead if they crashed the car.
Most of the conversation between the pair cannot be published because of bad language.
A further video, entitled “Kyle driving back from Shrewsbury”, has been posted on the site, also by “pimmytowell” on November 26.
The information says: “I recorded my mate Kyle driving back to Telford from Shrewsbury. Exactly same ruite (sic) as Mike’s video.”
The profile of “pimmytowell” says the user’s name is Tim and that he is a student at Telford College of Arts and Technology.
He lists his favourite films and shows as The Fast and The Furious, Tokyo Drift and Top Gear.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Shrewsbury police on 0300 333 3000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
By Rhea Parsons
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I hope he is soon caught, before he kills someone, and given at least a 5yr ban, just a complete blonker.
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I see the numpty’s have removed the clip from youtube and the account holder has closed the account … I hope the police identify the muppet and throw the bloody book at the twit! D’oh!
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The title of this story is true to its words, by this lads speed of the car and where he had NO hands on the steering wheel is so nieve, could of killed sombody during this space of time. The way teenagers drive these days is just huranders. who let him pass his test is also another question. He should be found asap
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I think the really scary bit is when both the range rover they are trying to compete with and the driver himself pull back into the left hand lane to let another driver through who is obviously going faster than 105 MPH and is gone in a matter of seconds. It’s a shame no one was filming him so he could be prosecuted!
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is this a slow news day?,he barely keeps up with the black 4×4 and is clearly overtaken by the blue saloon, also if i am correct in saying a standard cars speedometre is out by 10% at these indicated speeds therefore he is going much slower than he thinks or everyone is speeding! are the police going to waste tax payers money chasing this, and then only give him points or a fine or caution.
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the video should be called, almost killing myself, my mate. and inocent motorists.
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What an absolute nutter. Its people like that idiot that make young drivers insurance so high. I hope they catch him & he loses his licence for a while until he grows up.
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Interesting.
Observations? Along London Road, the driver was keeping up with the flow of the traffic, and did not tailgate.
On the approach to the island, he was in the correct lane for his exit.
Upon exiting the island, he overtook the car in front. Can’t complain. It’s DC.
He approaches, and negotiates, the Preston Island in fine fashion.
Now the problems start, and they are difficult to address. Firstly, the driver exited Preston Island in the right hand lane, and continued on to the A5 in the same lane. Only to be baulked at short notice by the black Mercedes ML who could have quite easily held back for 5 seconds to let the driver pass, but did not. That is extremely discourteous.
However, the driver of the car (Rover 100 by the looks of it) didn’t really need to bait the Mercedes driver in the manner he did. But more to the point, you – The Star – have labelled this story as “10 minutes of madness”.
Why is the driver in the video labelled as “mad” and the driver of the 2.5 tonne black Mercedes ML (who drove just as quickly as the driver in the video for a long stretch) not labelled as such? Why is the driver of the BMW 5-Series that overtook both at – I’d say – over 20mph faster not labelled as “mad”? Personally, I’m not uncomfortable with the idea of 1.0 leptons on that stretch of the A5, I have driven that stretch, at night, at 1.35 leptons without problem in the past where traffic density (or lack thereof) allows.
Concluding, and considering my annual mileage of 20,000+, I see much worse examples of bad driving than that featured here every day; most of it below the posted speed limit. The driver in the posted clip is not free of guilt, but neither are two other drivers that have not been vilified nor demonised for similar actions.
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Its scary that people are even going faster then these kids.
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to be fair there arent many people that DON’T hit 100mph on the M54 or far off on the A5 in places, but whilst this is for the most part a very dangerous practice, there is a difference between the “boy racer” as seen in this video and the “safe driver” well within his and the cars limits.. as most people know, modern cars are a lot safer at these speeds, and in the case of sports cars, are designed to be driven at such high speeds, whereas screaming the back-end off an ageing metro or suchlike is pure stupidity.. whatever the outcome, this “chav boy racer” doesnt deserve the opportunity to risk more lives with his disregard for other road users, also, neither does the BMW driver that PASSES him around 6 minutes into the video
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This type of driving is unforgiveable. Having reviewed the footage, you will note that the young driver was following a black 4×4 which was also driving in excess of 100mph. Furthermore another car over took the young driver at a much greater speed. I hope the police are studying the footage to also prosecute these drivers and not just against this “young” driver.
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Clearly there are several drivers in that video that are breaking the law, I do hope that ALL are located and punished accordingly!
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The contributor makes a series of excellent and correct points with regards to this entire episode.
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Never mind the speeding, he should be locked up for such poor music taste. Just summises the Telford chave element.
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I’m glad to see that most of the above posts are of the non-hysterical variety, unlike the headline. Apart from a few incidents – inappropriate speed in a built up area at the beginning, hands off the wheel while flicking through CDs and the actual speed on the M54 – there’s very little in this video to suggest TEN MINUTES OF MADNESS in capital letters.
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has he not done what a vast majority of motorists do.I agree with “sheets tirreur” there are others in the clip that are speeding etc, but people must think that they are either older or have posh cars so they aren’t a boy racer’s so don’t get labeled.
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in my opinion he was driving stupidly taking his hands off of the steering wheel.. that i would not accept as sensible behavour what so ever. but speeding? half the population of telford break the limit everyday FACT!
he’s only been targeted because he’s young. he would get a far worse punishment when caught than the older drivers in the other two cars. this puts a bad name to “boy racers” as not all “boy racers” are stupid drivers some just like to have a good looking car.
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I hope there parents see this footage and kick them in the backsides, what an idiot he wasent just risking his life what about his passengers yes other drivers were driving at high speeds and 99% of drivers break the speed limit at some time. but come on young driver showing off loud music he should be ashamed and no body mentions what a prat the passenger is encourageing him and laughing about how there family would cope if they died thats sick, and any trouble they get in is there own faults they are the numptys that posted it on you tube thinking they were clever NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I think what’s more worrying is the youths appalling taste in music! I also come to the sad conclusion that he will leach of the state for the rest of his life; like the rest of the underbelly of society honest tax payers house, feed.
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Police have the technology to zoom in on the other drivers number plate and enhance the picture, using that locate the persons from the number plate and send them letters with a court date. Easy.
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he handed himself not much choice really , maybe police should video him now and post that on you tube show people how clever he really looks !!!!!
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Why u only looking for this guy.. there are people clearly going faster than him
Also, is it fake .. as it shows a rover going over a 100MPH ??
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I would guess that most of the cars he passed were in excess of the speed limit.
C’mon people, this is not the Daily Mail, if the guy was in a new luxobarge he would have barely noticed his speed was over 100mph, its just that a small shopping car has to work so much harder to attain these speeds.
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Fair enough their speeding.
But stuff like Baby P? And that cant even sort that out. Police want too look into bigger cases before tackling the small ones.
They didnt harm anyone or anything so theres no biggy.
There just teenage lads, the world doesnt let people live these days.
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You have not mentioned the fact he is steering with his knees and selecting a CD … I wish parents would keep their comments to themselves!
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Sheets is right, most of the driving in that clip shows someone who has decent road sense and positioning. He is capable of using the correct lane at the right time which is unusual these days. I too, see a lot worse cases of driving than this on a day to day basis but because these worse cases are well below the speed of this driving example, people think that it is all right. Apart from exceeding the speed limit and driving with his knees, he doesn’t do much wrong.
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As a Fire Officer I have attended many RTAs and had to cut idiots like him and innocent others out of crashed cars. He should be made to attend A& E units every night and see what happens to people who are involved in accidents. Also a ban and if he is caught driving during the bad immediate prison sentence with no remission for good behaviour.
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This is just pathetic. When I was young, the bench mark was Elmstree Island to the Red House at Lilleshall in 15 mins – that was before the new A5!
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Interesting someone mentions Baby P in a previous post. It may interest you to know that more children are killed in road accidents than are murdered every year. A high proportion of those are due to excess speed. If you haven’t been trained to drive at those speeds (and most people haven’t) what makes you so sure you are capable of doing it safely?
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Pah.
Just before Christmas, I did Watford to Telford in an hour and three quarters (admittedly between 10 p.m. and midnight).
20 years ago, I did Crew Green to Shelton in 8 minutes in a 1.6 Sierra. Of course in those days one wasn’t thwarted by idiotically applied speed limits and a proliferation of numpties driving everywhere at 42mph…
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