A disgruntled garage customer has been jailed after stealing a 24-tonne bulldozer and going on an £8,000 destruction spree across Wolverhampton following a dispute over his car. Darren Coffey, 41, was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he took the £385,000 Caterpillar machine from his employer on November 8 last year.

He then drove it on a rampage lasting nearly three hours across the city, causing widespread chaos between 5.30pm and 8.15pm. Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Coffey’s dangerous run only came to an end after he smashed into a Royal Mail lorry, which police had commandeered and positioned as a roadblock in an attempt to stop him.

Before that, he had torn through Wolverhampton along major routes including the A454, the city ring road, Willenhall Road and Willenhall town centre, causing disruption and damage along the way.

Judge David Perry said a custodial sentence was “unavoidable”, describing how Coffey caused “untold chaos” to road users. He said Coffey reversed into oncoming traffic, at one stage collided with police vehicles, and repeatedly drove on the wrong side of the carriageway.

The judge explained that senior officers authorised blocking the route with a HGV, leading to a Royal Mail trailer being placed across the road. Coffey then used the bulldozer to push it out of the way, causing further damage.

The judge said: “The machine itself needed £680 worth of repairs and the total damage was just over £8,000. I have seen the video footage.”

He added: “You represent a risk, and because of the seriousness of that risk, only immediate custody is justified. The offence is so serious that only custody can be justified.”

Coffey sobbed in the dock as he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The court heard he had been in dispute with Willenhall Autos over a vehicle and had threatened to burn it down and “smash it up” before the incident. After stealing the bulldozer from near the Staffordshire border, he even called police saying he was “heading there with two petrol cans”.

Coffey, of Wolverhampton, admitted dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, drink driving, driving without a licence or insurance, failing to stop, criminal damage, and making threats to destroy property.

The court also heard he has a history of cocaine and cannabis abuse, along with previous convictions for drink driving, criminal damage and motoring offences, although he had not been in trouble since 2015.

His defence barrister said he suffers from PTSD and had sought help for drug issues, asking for a suspended sentence, which was refused.

Coffey, a father-of-four who moved to the UK from Ireland 17 years ago, must serve at least 40% of his sentence before release on licence.

He will then be supervised for 12 months. He has also been banned from driving for three years and nine months and must take an extended test before getting back behind the wheel.