A BANNED driver who drove the wrong way around a roundabout and collided head-on with a car containing two women has been jailed for 15 months.

Mark Lawless had overtaken an unmarked police car in Atherton in a stolen car.

But when the police gave chase, Lawless refused to stop and tried to escape by driving on the wrong side of the road at high speed -- forcing oncoming cars to swerve out of the way.

Lawless then drove the wrong way around a roundabout and hit another car head-on. He ran from the scene, but was caught and arrested by police officers.

The two women in the other vehicle suffered severe shock, and one was treated in hospital for a bruised knee.

Lawless, aged 31, of Langdale Street, Leigh, admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, aggravated vehicle taking, driving without insurance and failing to stop and report an accident.

Judge Gillian Ruaux jailed Lawless, who appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentence.

Prosecutor Anne Hughes told the court that Lawless had 23 previous convictions for 40 offences, which included violence, dishonesty and driving offences.

He had received a seven-year jail sentence for being the driver of a robbery getaway car and had been released on licence in July last year.

Philip Rouse, defending, said that Lawless had found the car abandoned after it had been stolen, and had taken it to visit his pregnant girlfriend, who was unwell.

Mr Rouse added that taking the car had been an impetuous and unplanned crime, and Lawless knew he had driven appallingly. Lawless had offered apologies to his victims, Mr Rouse added.