IPSWICH: A man accused of being involved in a police chase after scrap metal was stolen from a compound at Ipswich Hospital has been cleared of dangerous driving.

Giving evidence, Father-of-three Tony Mower claimed he had been a passenger in the van, but refused to name the driver.

Mower, 27, of Burke Road, Ipswich, denied dangerous driving but admitted theft of the scrap metal.

After his acquittal on the dangerous driving charge, Mower was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work in the community and to pay �85 costs for the theft charge.

During Mower’s trial on the dangerous driving charge, Ipswich Crown Court heard that police had been alerted after three men were seen stealing scrap metal from the ospital at around 8.20am on November 7 last year.

Police chased a van containing the men along Pearson Road and Foxhall Road and into Heath Road where it was driven at more than 60mph in a 30mph limit.

The van crashed through roadworks which cordoned off one lane in Woodbridge Road East and several cones were sent flying into the road causing other vehicles to swerve to avoid them.

The van had crashed into a mini roundabout in Woodbridge Road at the junction of Brunswick Road and the three occupants decamped.