Last February, Bruce Dewey, a “laborer of no fixed address,” according to British police, had a bad day. 

He was driving a Honda Legend in West Sussex county, England—about 50 miles south of London—when local police recognized him and, knowing that he wasn’t properly licensed to drive, tried to pull him over.

But Dewey refused, even calling police during the 50-minute-long chase to ask them to stop following him, police said. 

In video of the incident released Monday, you can see Dewey swerving in and out of traffic while police attempt a variety of maneuvers to get him to stop. They do eventually succeed, blocking him with two police cars before pulling him out of the Honda. 

Dewey was sentenced to 15 months in jail for the stunt, while Sussex police took the chance to make some cheeky comments at his expense. 

“A driver being pursued by police in West Sussex dialled 999 and asked us to stop following him,” they wrote on Facebook. “We did as he asked, but not before he stopped with us!”

It’s a toss up, on the evidence, whether Dewey’s phone call was worth the try. Though perhaps, like many in the digital age, he was simply working the viral long game.