A judge praised a regional daily’s campaign to stop dangerous driving before jailing a teenager who raced “bumper to bumper” with another motorist in a 30mph zone.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, said Saif Sageer’s was “just the sort of case” that had prompted the ‘Stop the Danger Drivers’ campaign by the Bradford Telegraph & Argus.

Sageer, 19, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving but was found guilty by a jury at Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard that Sageer was “racing bumper to bumper” his VW Golf with another car of the same model when the vehicles were seen by police, prompting a pursuit, in March this year.

The manoeuvre was labelled “the worst piece of driving” the officer involved in the pursuit had ever seen.

Describing the chase, the roads policing officer said Sageer’s driving was “despicable” and “a disgrace”, saying it was the worst he had seen in eight years in the role, and the sort of driving “that is going to kill somebody.”

Nick Leadbeater, defending, said Sageer was driving the vehicle legitimately and with the correct insurance having borrowed it from his uncle.

He added that while he acknowledged people were “fed up” of certain defendants in Bradford “ignoring the road traffic laws”, there had been no statistical evidence that the standard of driving was any worse than other cities in the UK.

When Mr Leadbeater cited the T&A’s campaign, Judge Thomas said a young man like Sageer “racing through the streets” was the kind of case that caused “considerable concern.”

He added: “This isn’t just the local press stirring up a campaign for the sake of it, it has now reached the council chamber and the Palace of Westminster.

“It is staggering that people still don’t understand what will happen if they drive dangerously, they will go to custody.”

Sageer was sentenced to nine months in a young offender’s institution and must take an extended re-test before he can drive again.

T&A Editor Perry Austin-Clarke said: “Our Danger Drivers campaign has been astonishingly successful because it struck a chord with tens of thousands of people across the district who witness the appalling driving standards, particularly of young male road users, every day.

“The police launched their own operation – dubbed Steerside – as a direct result of the pressure brought to bear by the T&A campaign, and by readers responding to it, and have so far made more than 5,500 arrests on the back of it, ranging from driving while using a mobile to speeding, to driving without insurance to causing death by dangerous driving.

“We have been told this week that they have been granted at least a further six months’ funding for the operation and it is now embedded in police culture and even in the training programme for new officers.”