A banned driver led police on three separate chases, including speeding on major roads, ramming police cars, running red lights, and fleeing across a field.
Scott Gore, 36, was already serving a driving ban when police officers came across him driving a Peugeot at a petrol station off Chorley Old Road on August 24, 2024.
Bolton Crown Court heard how the officers approached him when they found that the car was uninsured.
William Donnelly, prosecuting, said: "The defendant made off at speed at that stage when the officers approached his car."
Mr Donnelly told the court how Gore nearly hit a taxi as he sped away from police, going at 60mph on Chorley Old Road, later narrowly avoiding parked cars.
Later during the six-minute chase, he hit another car after turning onto Blackburn Road before abandoning his own car on Belmont Road.
On January 4 the following year, he was seen again by police, this time in a Ford, and led the officers on another chase, speeding at 85mph on Wigan Road and then 70mph on Deane Road, running two sets of red traffic lights.
He eventually got away when, as Mr Donnelly said, it was "deemed perhaps too dangerous to continue the pursuit".
Finally, Gore, still serving a ban, was yet again seen by police officers in a car, this time a Renault Scenic, on January 26 this year.
After trying to get away by ramming two police cars, he eventually became stuck in a muddy field and was arrested after officers broke a car window to get at him.
Brought before the courts, Gore, who has 49 previous convictions for 126 offences, confessed to three counts of dangerous driving.
He also admitted to three counts of driving while disqualified and two counts of driving without insurance.
Georgia Kennedy-Curnow, defending, said that Gore, of Malton Avenue, Deane, had earned credit for his guilty plea.
She said that he had lived a turbulent life up to that point but that he had taken steps to try and turn himself around.
Ms Kennedy-Curnow said: "He needed a wake-up call and quite frankly he needed stability in his life."
But Recorder Nicholas Flanaghan noted that Gore had a huge criminal record to his name, including a "very large number of car-related offences."
Addressing the defendant, who appeared via video link from prison, Recorder Flanaghan said he had "absolutely no confidence" he would comply with any community order.
He said: "You clearly should not be behind the wheel and have some obsession with cars and driving as well as a disregard for other road users."
Recorder Flanaghan jailed Gore for three years and four months and banned him from driving for five years, with an extra 20 months to take account of his time in custody.