A MAN who was driving a decommissioned ambulance with its blue lights flashing when it crashed into level crossing barriers will be sentenced in November.

Shane Hughes, 41, appeared at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, over the collision at Kildwick between Keighley and Skipton in July.

Hughes, of Ramsgate Street, Halifax, was being pursued by police officers at the time after having driven off from a collision involving two other vehicles on the A65, in which a 28-year-old man died.

The Mercedes Benz ambulance was believed to have been in convoy with a flatbed truck converted into a campervan which was involved in the fatal collision with a Peugeot between Clapham and Ingleton earlier in the day.

Hughes appeared briefly before Judge Jonathan Rose at the Bradford court where his barrister Stephen Wood asked for an adjournment for a psychological report and subsequent pre-sentence report to be prepared.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, endangering a railway, driving while disqualified and without insurance. He also pleaded guilty yesterday to the theft of some car keys on the day of the crash.

Judge Rose adjourned the case and told Hughes: “The fact that I am adjourning for these reports and granting you bail does not mean that you won’t go to prison at the end of this.”

“It is likely you will as these are very serious matters.”

He warned Hughes not to drive at all as he was disqualified and if he was caught driving “anything with an engine” in the meantime, he would end up in jail until he falls to be sentenced.

The sentencing will now take place on November 12.

North Yorkshire Police said at the time of the incident that officers were following the ambulance, which was using its blue lights. They pursued the vehicle in the direction of Skipton before it collided with the level crossing near Kildwick and came to rest on the train tracks.

Train services were cancelled as the incident was dealt with.

Police appealed for anyone with any dash-cam footage of the ambulance, which had livery on it, as “members of the public may have believed it was a real ambulance due to the use of its blue lights”.