Stomach-churning footage shows a reckless driver leading police on an extraordinary 37-mile chase at speeds of up to 92mph in the decommissioned emergency vehicle before abandoning it centimetres from the rail tracks.
Jailing Shane Hughes, a judge described the incident as one of the "worst cases of dangerous driving" he had ever seen.
Hughes, 41, narrowly avoided oncoming vehicles, drove on the opposite side of the road and went the wrong way round a roundabout before crashing at the level crossing.
He had been going to a festival in July when another vehicle he was travelling with – believed to be a homemade campervan – was involved in a collision on the A65 near Ingleton, North Yorks.
Hughes was pursued as he drove off in the decommissioned ambulance with the blue lights flashing.
He buried his face in his hands as footage of the police pursuit and near-miss on the railway line were played in court.
The police footage shows how he leapt from the ambulance as it approached the railway barrier before it came to a rest across one of the railway tracks near Kildwick, North Yorkshire, on July 13.
Hughes, of Halifax, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, obstructing the railway line, driving while disqualified and without insurance and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
Yesterday at Bradford Crown Court he was jailed for 22 months and banned from driving for six years and 11 months.
Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said Hughes had seven previous convictions for driving while disqualified when he sped away from the scene of the accident on the A65 near Clapham.
He crashed through the barrier as it was coming down and the lights were flashing, before getting stuck on the track.
Seconds later, a train came through, missing the crashed ambulance by millimetres.
Hughes fled on foot and was arrested in a nearby garden – when he pretended to be a police officer to try to persuade the householder to hand over his car keys.
He tested positive for cannabis after his arrest.
Judge Jonathan Rose said: "You drove over 37 miles in an utterly disgraceful and appalling manner. It was nothing short of a miracle that no one had been killed.
"The train was inches from disaster and had it been on the other track, death would have followed."
Mitigating, Stephen Wood said that pre-sentence and psychological reports revealed the horrible events of Hughes' childhood.
The court heard that Hughes was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and substance misuse had blighted his life.
Mr Wood added: "A catastrophe was avoided by centimetres. It was quite dreadful driving.
"He has very real demons that play in his mind over and over again."
Gemma Brett from North Yorkshire Police said Hughes "put numerous lives at risk and could have caused untold carnage".
She added: "His actions were totally irresponsible, illegal and focused entirely on himself with no thought whatsoever for the safety of anyone else."
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