A JOYRIDER who drove the wrong way on the M11 for 40 miles in a stolen van has been jailed for 15 months.

Unemployed Ryan Nee, 19, stole the white van from Stock Road, Billericay, before leading police on a high-speed chase all the way to Cambridge.

One police officer described the chase as the worst case of dangerous driving he had seen in his 26-year career.

The 70-mile escapade only ended when police laid a stinger across the road and Nee smashed into a lorry and the van overturned.

An ambulance was called to the scene just before 3am on May 21, but amazingly both drivers escaped serious injury with the teenager suffering just “superficial wounds”.

When asked why he was caught wearing gloves and a motorbike helmet in the stolen van, Nee told police is was “because he was cold”.

Nee, of Romford, was sentenced to 15 months in prison when he appeared via videolink at Basildon Crown Court.

Recorder Elroy Claxton said: “Mr Nee, you must appreciate this was a most dangerous piece of driving.

“Driving on a motorway at night on the wrong side of the carriagewaymeans youwere a danger to other road users and a danger to yourself.

“This dangerous driving lasted a significant amount of time and went on for 70 miles.

“Your driving must have been frightening to other road users and there was a real danger of death to either yourself or other people.”

The teenager had admitted burglary, theft of a vehicle, dangerous driving, driving without insurance and driving without a valid driving licence at a previous hearing.

Nee claimed to have been the lookout for a burglary at the Stock Road home, in which the van keys were taken, and claimed he had not gone inside.

Mike Warren, mitigating, said his client was “clearly not an experienced criminal” and had only taken part to pay off a £300 drug debt for cannabis.

Nee was sentenced to 15 months in prison, disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge.