A man who cut across busy city centre traffic and mounted the pavement to escape a police pursuit has been jailed for eight months for dangerous driving.

Footage of Kazim Mahmood Ibrahim attempting to evade officers in a black Mercedes showed him speeding and weaving through queues of Birmingham motorists on July 5.

At one point 27-year-old Ibrahim, from Haringey in north London, is seen bringing three lines of traffic to a halt as he cuts across a busy road and then clips a sign as he drives over the footpath to overtake a stationary double-decker bus.

West Midlands Police said officers eventually halted his reckless driving with a stinger, but still had to chase Ibrahim down in order to arrest him after he abandoned the car and ran off.

A search of the Mercedes revealed nearly 40,000 illegal cigarettes with an excise duty value of more than £10,000, which was seized by HM Revenue & Customs.

Ibrahim, who admitted dangerous driving, driving without a licence or insurance, and possession of cannabis, was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

He was also banned from the road for a total of 16 months.