Simon Chaplin, 62, flicked a switch on the dashboard of his red Peugeot 309, triggering ‘colossal’ amounts of smoke.

Simon Chaplin, 62, flicked a switch on the dashboard of his red Peugeot 309 and “colossal” amounts of smoke came out of the exhaust pipe.

Pc Dafydd Campbell Birch caught up five miles later when Chaplin turned into a farmyard.

Chaplin had a bucket of diesel behind the passenger seat, connected to a pump with a pipe leading into the exhaust. An electrical system linked to the pump, battery and a dashboard switch.

At the flick of the switch diesel was dripped into the hot exhaust pipe to produce clouds of smoke.

James Belton, who was driving in the other direction, told police in a statement read to Swansea crown court: “I thought his engine had blown. The smoke was covering both carriageways and I had to slow to five miles an hour.”

Pc Birch said he wanted to stop the Peugeot because it had a “DE JURE” number plate, which “didn’t look right.”

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