March 12, 2006
By Thair Shaikh

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England - A quiet Sunday afternoon drive home from visiting friends turned into a terrifying 200km/h+ ordeal for a driver after the accelerator on his BMW jammed and the car's brakes failed.

For almost 100km, Kevin Nicolle, 25, weaved between lorries and other cars on the A1 as he desperately tried to avoid crashing his 3 Series automatic.

Disaster struck as he was driving through the Yorkshire Dales along the A1, on his way home to Portsmouth on the south coast of England after visiting friends in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the country's far north-east.

As he passed the town of Thirsk he took his foot off the accelerator but the car went faster.

"The pedal was stuck to the floor," he said. "The whole thing was just a blur. I was terrified, hysterical and crying," he said.

Nicolle, a former lorry driver, called the AA but was told to call the police, who dispatched four patrol cars and a helicopter.

For a while he was able to bring his speed down to 130km/h by using the brakes. He also tried to slip the car into neutral but the gears were also jammed.

"I couldn't turn off the ignition because it would have disabled the power steering and made it even more dangerous," he said.

He passed through three counties, travelling at 200km/h at times, on a hellish 26-minute journey.

The policewoman who took his call said they would attempt a "rolling-stop" by boxing in the car with police vehicles to slow it down - but it was too late. The brakes had burned out and the car began to accelerate again, with Nicolle gripping the steering wheel in terror.

"I saw the dial going past 160km/h, 180km/h, 190... I was praying for police cars to show up but they couldn't catch me. I was reaching 220km/h ...I honestly thought I was going to die."

As he drove, Nicolle leaned on his horn and flashed his lights to warn other vehicles and overtook cars on the verge of the fast lane. Police told him to drive on the hard shoulder where he shot past several slip roads.

Then he saw the sign: Roundabout 800 yards. It was a raised roundabout with a grassy crest.

"That's when I said 'I ain't surviving this'."

A long queue of cars blocked the way to the roundabout and Nicolle had to swerve to avoid them. He crashed and the BMW rolled.

"I didn't deliberately crash the car... it started to fill with smoke but I said to the firemen: 'Don't cut my car, you'll damage it'."

He got out of the car without serious injury.

Police have examined the car and said the driver will not face prosecution. A spokesman for BMW said: "We are unaware of any issues of that nature with that particular model." - The Independent, London