Unlicensed driver arrested for allegedly leading police on stolen car chase across Port Adelaide

Driving without a licence was the least of an alleged car thief’s worries, when he took police on a cross-suburb car chase on Friday night that ended with a litany of charges.

An alleged car thief who was chased by police across the Port ended his night of carnage with a trail of serious charges behind him.

Police allege that between 6pm and 8pm on Friday, a 31-year-old Port Adelaide man broke into a house at Semaphore Park and obtained the keys to the residents’ car.

The theft was reported and at 8.30pm, a patrol spotted the white Volvo station wagon on Bartley Tce and tried to pull it over.

The driver sped off and crossed the Hart St bridge into Port Adelaide, ending up in a dead-end street.

However, police allege the driver then sped through a fence and into a shopping centre car park, before looping back around over the bridge and stopping at Leadenhall St.

He then abandoned the car and fled on foot, jumping several fences, until he was finally stopped and arrested in a backyard on Gouger Cr.

Apart from driving without a licence, the charges included theft, illegal use of a vehicle, evading police pursuit, aggravated serious criminal trespass, unlawful possession, unlawfully on premises, resisting arrest and possessing a breaking implement.

The man was refused bail and will appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court by video link on Monday.

The Volvo was towed away with only minor damage and police are carrying out forensic examinations.