A 32-year-old Fairford man who was high on a cocktail of drugs when he collided with two cars in Cirencester, has been jailed for ten months.

Lester Caswell's dangerous driving was witnessed by an off duty Nottinghamshire police superintendent who was visiting the Cotswolds, a court heard on Monday.

Even after crashing into another car and causing £1,800 damage, Caswell tried to carry on but was arrested after he stopped to try to change the punctured tyre of his Volkswagen Polo.

At Gloucester Crown Court, Caswell of Jacobs Piece, Fairford, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on Grove Lane, Abbey Way, on November 6 last year. He also admitted driving while unfit through drugs.

Prosecutor Janine Wood said superintendent Mark Holland was driving in Cirencester that afternoon and found himself behind Caswell.

Caswell was 'swerving between lanes in a dangerous manner' and he clipped a white vehicle but did not stop. The superintendent alerted local police and continued to follow Caswell.

He saw him go over a roundabout at 50mph and then drift to the wrong side of the road and hit traffic cones. He then stopped at red traffic lights, failed to move when they turned green, then drove through when they had gone back to red. In Abbey Way he drove on the wrong side of the road and narrowly missed two vehicles.

"He then drove into a residential area on the wrong side of the road," Ms Wood said. "He accelerated out of Cirencester on the wrong side of the Gloucester Road and came into contact with a Volkswagen Golf."

After the collision,Caswell drove on and then pulled over and started trying to change a wheel, Ms Wood said.

"He was staggering when he got out of the car," she said. "The police then arrived and he was arrested."

He passed a breath test but a urine sample later revealed he had taken heroin, cocaine, Methadone, mephedrone and the sedative Lormetazepam.

Ms Wood said Caswell had made eight previous court appearances for a total of 28 offences.

Paul Trotman, defending, referred the court to a 'heart rending' letter from Caswell's mother.

Caswell had a job and had been to Turning Point since the offences in an effort to address his drug problems, the lawyer said.

"He realised he had been relapsing back into his old problem with heroin and he referred himself to Turning Point.

"This was a horrendous piece of driving and it is very fortunate that the people in the other vehicles were not seriously injured. "