A ROAD rage driver tried to ram a police car during a high-speed chase on the motorway that nearly caused a “catastrophic” crash.

An officer had to brake sharply to stop Marc Morgan deliberately try to hit him as he sped at 85mph on the M4 in Newport.

The police were pursuing the 56-year-old engineer who was more than three times the drink-driving limit.

Officers were following his Citroen DS3 SUV after he’d rammed another car in Risca on the night of Sunday, January 28.

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Prosecutor Alex Orndal played police dashcam footage of the chase.

Officers had pulled up next to Morgan on Mill Street in Risca and told him to get out of his car.

The defendant told them to “f*** off” before he sped off.

Cardiff Crown Court saw Morgan driving at double the speed limit in residential areas, ignoring red lights and swerving across the road through Risca and the Rogerstone area of Newport.

The officer chasing the defendant on the M4 said: “He tried to strike my car and I had to brake to avoid him.

“If he had hit me, it would have been catastrophic to me, him and anyone else in the vicinity.”

Morgan was arrested shortly after when the police used a stinger device to stop him.

The defendant, of Quantock Close, Trenewydd Park, Risca pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop for a constable and drink-driving.

He has a previous conviction for drink-driving from 2019.

Jeffrey Jones representing Morgan said: “The defendant has not been to prison before and the prospect of custody frightens him greatly.”

His barrister said his client had resigned from his job as an engineer as he needed a driving licence for that work.

“The defendant is contrite and there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation,” he added.

Morgan has “a drink problem’, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

Judge Carl Harrison told the defendant the police had been called following a “road rage” incident.

He added: “These were deliberate decisions to ignore the rules of the road.

“There was a dangerous manoeuvre to try and ram a police car and you were swerving towards the officer.”

Morgan was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for three years and four months.