Life in the Fast Lane Motorway Cops

Tonight, the motorway cops work as a team...

Into that lane, mate, get into the third lane.

..on the ground...

OK, we've got a possible here.

..and in the air.

Can we have a vehicle down to Stratford Road junction of College Road, over?

Stopping travelling criminals...

We've got a vehicle failing to stop.

..searching for drugs...

-There's got to be something in this car.

-Don't insult me. I know what's in there.

Oh, lovely. Possibly cocaine.

..and taking car thieves off the streets.

He's going off road, he's going off road.

'It's bang out of order. We all joined the police'

to make 100% effort to catch these people.

You know, and if we can, that's what we'll do.

This programme contains some strong language.

Ten miles east of Birmingham on the M6, PCs Andy Collins

and Dajlit Nijjar are racing to reach a car that's trying

to outrun traffic officers who are in hot pursuit.

We've responded to a vehicle that's failed to stop

for a local traffic unit.

It's entered the motorway and we're making progress towards it.

The traffic car's updating other units

as they try to stop the speeding car.

-RADIO:

-'Still lane two, 100mph, OK, over.'

But they're travelling so fast,

the fear is the motorway cops won't be able to catch up with the chase.

It's going as almost as quick as we're going.

We're not that far behind.

'We was trying to gain on it, so we was trying to get'

more police vehicles with it and try and get the helicopter up as well

to help with the pursuit cos that's the best tool that we've got.

The police helicopter travels at more than 130mph.

But, more importantly, it doesn't have to follow the roads,

so it can get above a chase in a matter of minutes.

We are attending, we're about a minute away. Over.

Oscar one, continue.

As the helicopter heads cross country,

on the ground, PCs Collins and Nijjar are also pushing their car

to the limit and are in sight of the chase.

Oscar Tango two two, we are behind you now.

-RADIO:

-'Oscar Tango two two, can you move over?

'We need to get this sorted ASAP.'

Yes, yes, we are in a Range Rover. I don't know if you guys want to do

a passing manoeuvre and we'll take over pursuit commander, over.

PC Nijjar's taken control on the ground

and his plan is to surround the car and force it to stop.

Get into that lane, mate. Get into the third lane.

'Speed is one zero zero, 100mph.

'We'll try and keep him on, it's one Asian male driver.

-'Go, go, go.'

-Stay here, stay here.

'Try and keep him on the motorway, received.'

Surrounding a speeding car on the motorway is a risky manoeuvre

but one the cops are experts in.

They want him staying on, yeah?

RADIO CHATTER

'We ideally wanted to keep it on the motorway.'

But the car wasn't being driven... It was being driven dangerously.

'Speed is one zero, zero, 100mph.

'He's changing lanes from three to one.'

But just as the cops get into position,

the driver sees a way out... a junction up ahead.

'Two, two he's going to go off, he's going to go off.

'Stand by, stand by.'

It's just what they don't need.

With seconds to spare, the driver takes a sharp left towards the exit.

'We're off the motorway into Rugby.'

The cops' plans have gone out the window.

They'll have to think again.

'It's no good just pursuing a car.'

We've got to have a plan to be able to stop it safely.

A chase off the motorway through busy streets

can be much more dangerous.

The traffic patrol offers an extreme solution.

Can we get tactical contact before this gets out of control?

We can take him out.

Tactical contact means deliberately hitting the car

and forcing it to stop.

But it's rarely sanctioned and this is no exception.

To confirm we are above and we are recording, over.

With the arrival of the chopper,

senior officers have decided it's safer to pull back.

Yeah, basically the helicopter's above now.

We're into the Warwickshire area onto A roads, so we're backing off

because the helicopter will give the commentary and it's safer then.

At the moment, we're going to think of some tactics now.

Just bear with me.

With the helicopter keeping an eye on where the car is going,

the cops regroup to plan their next move.

-RADIO:

-'Have we got anyone with stingers ahead of us?'

If they can get ahead of the car, they can use the stinger strip

to puncture its tyres and bring it to a stop.

What we're trying to do is get this vehicle stung

and hopefully go for that interception.

If we get a chance we will T-pack this.

We will do what we call a 'boxing manoeuvre' on this vehicle.

We were on country roads, some of them were unlit.

He's going at high speeds,

sometimes on the wrong side of the road as well so, you know,

you're thinking at the back of your mind what could happen.

Roger, he's into the village

and we've got about an hour's worth of fuel, over.

The plan depends on the helicopter keeping tabs on the car

and letting the cops with the stinger know exactly where it's headed.

Tango Charlie seven four, we're in Brinklow now with stinger.

Charlie seven four in Brinklow with stinger.

Alpha Oscar one update, over.

Roger, Alpha Oscar one.

Still B4027, I think it was, back into Brinklow, over.

Towards Brinklow, over.

Tango Charlie, unit call sign in Brinklow with stinger.

The stinger unit's in place, but something's gone wrong.

Did they sting him there because there was a car sat there?

Seven four, we weren't quick enough.

The cops couldn't get the stinger deployed in time.

He's coming to a T-junction. I'll tell you which way he's going. Over.

They need to devise a new plan of action.

But their luck may have turned.

I don't think this bloke knows where he's going, does he?

He's gone lightside. He did a right at the T-junction and then a first left.

The driver may be lost, but 600 feet above him,

the chopper can see exactly where he's going.

Right, he's come out of Brinklow

and he's on an unnamed road towards Coventry Way.

Dead end, we think.

Now it's the driver who needs a new plan.

Alpha Oscar one an update, over.

With the road ahead blocked,

he veers into the bushes looking for a way out.

But his car is going nowhere.

Roger, all units make the night sun. All units make the night sun.

Vehicle's stopped.

Immediately, the car is surrounded by the cops.

'It was a bit of a hectic scene

'because we thought that these males had run off into the fields.'

But when I went over to the vehicle, all these...

about four or five people were still in the vehicle.

DOGS BARK

Out the car! Hands behind your back.

OK, after three. One, two, three and up.

Can I get me shoes?! My shoes.

We'll worry about that later, matey.

Yeah, basically...the vehicle's come to a rest,

the occupants haven't legged it, so I think we've got four in custody.

As you can see, the car's obviously lost control,

come to a dead end and crashed.

There are four teenagers.

But the one the cops really want is the driver who's tried to pull a fast one.

The driver's trying to be clever and he jumped into the back seat

so he couldn't be identified as the driver but, luckily,

one of the traffic vehicles that were behind it originally

could ID the driver straight away.

Because the driver's too young to have a licence,

the cops suspect he's taken the car without the owner's consent.

And that may also explain why he took such risks to try to get away.

The use of police helicopters to keep track of criminals

trying to flee from the cops is on the increase.

And here, in the Midlands, with more than 500 miles of roads to patrol,

the Central Motorway Police Group can call on

two, £5 million choppers, to help stop drivers

who they think are breaking the law.

On the M5, south of Birmingham, PCs Adam Toal and John Martin

have been called in to support colleagues who are following

a suspect car.

We've got information that there's a car that's involved in drugs supply.

It's gone up towards the top end of the motorway, M6,

and it's now coming back down.

Hopefully, we can assist the other officers in stopping the vehicle

and if there's any drugs on board then we can recover them

and deal with the person that's got them.

Meanwhile, the West Midlands police helicopter, Alpha Oscar one,

is also on its way to help out.

The helicopter can say exactly where it's going and it can give us time

to enable to get us in position

and sort out tactics well before the vehicle's even near us.

-Coming up towards junction one, mate.

-Yep. Cheers, mate.

As the helicopter crew updates the cops with their progress...

Mike Alpha, we're over the M5 now.

We are downlinking, just trying to pick the vehicle up.

The vehicle is committed, two, three.

..PCs Toal and Martin are closing in from the other direction.

We can get to four, mate, I think.

They plan to use a stinger to stop the car at the junction

beyond Frankley Services.

Nine two. One mile to Frankley.

-One mile to Frankley.

-OK, mate, stinger.

-Yeah.

-Mike Alpha.

-Yeah, we'll have stinger ready at junction four.

If the vehicle does fail to stop when the officers put the lights

and sirens on, they'll be able to force it off at junction four

and we'll be able to sting it.

Get the vehicle stopped, hopefully get the drugs.

Everyone's a winner.

Things never sort of happen that way though, do they?

Nine two, nine two all patrols. It looks like

he's coming off at Frankley.

The suspects in the car may be wise to the cops on their tail.

Mike Alpha, I've got an off off, Frankley Services.

Off off at Frankley Services.

There's no place for the stinger now.

Yeah, OK, we'll make up that way, then.

As the driver heads into the service station,

two unmarked patrol cars quickly move to block his exit.

Vehicle stopped.

But it looks like he has other ideas.

He accelerates away, leaving the cops scrambling to catch up.

Mike Alpha, we've got vehicle failing to stop now.

He's going to be making his exit now back on towards the motorway.

They lose sight of the car for crucial seconds as it speeds

through an underpass.

Failed to stop, junction four, M5.

But, just as PCs Toal and Martin pull into the services,

one of the unmarked patrol cars catches up with the driver.

Mike Alpha, vehicle is round the back of the service station.

Now he looks like he's boxed in.

This time he's going nowhere.

Yeah, we do have the vehicle stopped and two detained, over.

As PCs Toal and Martin get to the car, it's all over.

..anything you do may be given in evidence. Do you understand?

The men appear to have no drugs on them.

But the helicopter crew noticed something as the car

emerged from the tunnel.

It did look like he threw something out as he was going through

the underpass of the main service station.

Threw something out of the window.

Basically, he's come onto the services,

rammed the silver police vehicle here

and tried to make good their escape.

They've got nowhere to go.

And two have been detained for possession with intent to supply.

-Where did they lob the stuff, mate?

-Under the tunnel.

The common rule of thumb with most people that are carrying drugs

is once they've got the police behind them,

they'll do everything they can to get rid of the evidence.

The vehicle had managed to get a split second blind spot

on the police vehicle and they've obviously disposed of the drugs.

Finding those drugs is key to their case.

Luckily, PC Martin has located the bag...

or at least, what's left of it.

The bag of white powder's been thrown from the vehicle,

which is just underneath a bridge. The bag has split.

It looks like it's possibly ketamine or cocaine.

We just need recovery of it.

'The drugs had hit the back of the sign

'and it had caught all in the bottom of the sign at the back.'

It had had gone on the floor underneath,

it had gone on the pavement, on the roadway.

So you can imagine turning up to a job and thinking 'where do I start?'

This was one of them.

It's a good job it's not windy, isn't it?

We'd have all had a face full of it!

Immediately, we're thinking right, we need to preserve this, but how?

-The other option is get a carrier bag from the...

-Yeah.

-Just to cover it up. If it rains we'll be...

-Yeah, that's it all gone.

There are no guidelines in the police manual

on how to deal with a situation like this.

So PC Martin has to do some improvising.

If that's cocaine, that's quite a substantial amount of cocaine.

You're looking at, you know, coming up to thousands,

tens of thousands, potentially, in that.

But until we get it examined, then we won't know.

If they can keep the powder from blowing away,

then the cops can build the case against the men.

PC Toal is taking a closer look at the car.

We know the drugs have been thrown out of the vehicle,

but there's potentially more drugs hidden in the car. Or money.

Or any evidence linking them to dealing drugs as well.

So far, his search isn't proving fruitful.

They've managed to dispose of absolutely everything.

Up against the road sign there was nothing in the car.

It was actually cleaner than my car!

And that makes the recovery of the discarded package even more important.

Have you got any clean brushes

that you've got in your cupboard that we could use? No new ones?

All right. I don't suppose... inside there,

you've got access to any little brushes?

Or anything like that?

Even if it's in a shop and we have to pay for it.

Right.

We may have to purchase some utensils to recover the drugs.

If that's the way we have to do it, that's the way we have to do it.

But just recovering the powder isn't enough.

They also need to prove that the package was thrown out of the car.

We want to secure, preserve

and have everything on camera so that the case is watertight.

But without an eyewitness or footage from the helicopter,

it could be a challenge to make the charges against the men stick.

The motorway cops have access to all sorts of high tech equipment.

But it's often their experience on the road that gives them

an eye for drivers on the wrong side of the law.

It's mid-afternoon and PCs Jess Rojek and Alan Colman

are just off the M6, near Chelmsley Wood.

As they pull alongside a black Ford Focus, the driver seems nervous.

We just wanted to stop the car, just to see who was driving it.

Make sure that he had licence and insurance.

The driver hasn't done anything wrong,

but the cops' intuition tells them to check out the car just in case.

Thank you, we're the A452 Collector Road.

It's on Yankee 918 Whiskey Sierra Sierra. Received.

-RADIO:

-'Thank you. No insurance.'

That's all received, it will be a code one shortly.

The vehicle in front, Ford Focus,

has got no insurance shown on the Police National Computer.

Just run a check on it, so we need to stop and have a word with him.

'The area that we're in is known for car crime.'

If we come off the motorway we'll go and have a look round there.

I just didn't like the look of it.

But before the cops have a chance to put on the blue lights,

the driver unexpectedly makes the decision to pull over.

Oh, he's give up, he's give up.

It's rare that someone gives up quite so quickly.

-Hiya. You all right? What's your name?

-John.

All right, John. Your vehicle smells of cannabis a bit...

You're showing no insurance.

There is? Do you have a policy with you, or are you able to...

OK. If I could just ask you to step out of the vehicle.

We'll have a chat properly about it, all right?

We were expecting that we might find that there would be no insurance

or a small amount of drugs,

but as it turned out, it unfolded into quite a story.

Is there anything in that car that shouldn't be there,

-Have you got a bit of cannabis on you?

-No, no, no.

-Just dropped my mate off.

-Have you had a... Your mate has?

Just have a seat in there for me please.

-Hello, mate.

-Just going to do a quick search of the car.

-Smells of cannabis.

-Oh, right, OK.

Your car's coming up with no insurance.

No, it's in my missus' name, mate. It's fully insured.

Is it? Where do you live, then?

100%. I don't know who's she's with.

-Have you got a phone number?

-Of my missus?

Because if you ain't got a policy, we're seizing it.

It's not on the insurance database.

He was basically telling us

that his girlfriend had insurance on that car for him to drive

or for any driver or some way, he thought he was insured on that car.

There was no insurance on that car at all.

Meanwhile, PC Rojek is taking a closer look inside.

There's a strong smell of cannabis, so I'm, you know,

looking for drugs. I've got the power to search the vehicle.

And as I'm sort of going under the seats etc,

that's when I find this weapon.

Looks like a little adapted weapon to me.

'He's obviously gone to the effort of wrapping the cling film round

'to make it into a handle.'

It's not what your normal person would have

under their front passenger seat.

Where you been today? Been at work or something or..?

The driver's keen to offer up a full explanation.

And he's got something else to get off his chest.

Yeah.

And you're not?

Right, OK, mate.

She's knowing?

She don't know?

So where's she, then?

He then decides to tell me that he's taken the car

without her permission.

So not only is he not insured, he's taken the vehicle without consent.

The offences are stacking up.

And now PC Rojek's back with the wooden baton she found in his car.

-That was under the passenger seat.

-What's that doing there, mate?

Was you?

It kind of looks like a little adapted bat, to me.

And it's under your passenger seat.

The man seems to have an answer for everything

but it doesn't convince PC Rojek.

So she's going to search the rest of the car.

You got your keys on you? So I can check your boot?

The cops sense something wasn't right from the start,

and now the routine check is turning into something much bigger.

The vehicle's on Aaron Way if you can start organising recovery.

-Can you also get us a block for...

-She's definitely insured on the car.

..possessing of offensive weapon and TWOC.

-You got anything on you, you shouldn't have?

-No.

You sure about that?

We don't want any more surprises at the station.

Right, OK.

The driver insists there's no more surprises in store.

But PC Colman has one for PC Rojek.

-He's 'TWOCed' the car.

-Oh, has he?

-Yeah.

-Oh. Whose car is it?

-His girlfriend's.

'TWOC-ing' is taking the car without consent.

And he hasn't even passed his driving test.

While they wait for the tow truck, the cops will have to make sure

this driver doesn't have anything else up his sleeve.

Over on the M5, at Frankley Services, PC Martin is still trying

to preserve a quantity of white powder, thought to be drugs,

thrown by two men from a car before they're arrested.

And he's finally managed to blag a useful tool to gather the powder.

A small nail brush.

Have you seen on the other side of there, mate?

Just come round a bit further. It's all in there where he's hit the side.

-So...

-That's what they've intended to do, ain't they?

-Yeah.

-Lob it and smash it.

-Split the bag and it goes everywhere.

-It's all down there.

With so much white powder around,

the cops decide it's time to call in the specialists.

We thought 'No, instead of me

'scraping all the drugs up with a pink nail brush, I think

'we better get professional people to do it and do a proper job.'

Right, West Mids SOCO, potentially coming.

-Right.

-And a drugs dog's on his way.

So I'm not going to get to use my brush?

As they wait for the scenes of crime officer to help recover the powder,

PC Chris Bradley brings some good news.

A witness saw a package hit the sign.

He's a good witness. It's a good statement.

He can't say who's thrown it or who the drivers are.

But he can say it wasn't there before.

The lads will put that into perspective.

Just spoke to a witness who's working out the back,

hears some noise, sees a car come past,

sees something being thrown out of it.

Sees police presence

and whatnot going round the side of the petrol station

and then he sees some kind of powder, like snow,

just all over the place. And the sign still shaking.

So I've just been and taken a statement off him for that.

And then see how it goes from there.

It's good evidence.

But because the witness can't identify the car,

it's not conclusive. And there's more good news.

The specialist scenes of crimes officer arrives,

much to the relief of PC Martin.

Obviously got all this just hiding it. So that's the bag of drugs.

So basically, we just need it recovered as best as we can.

But we didn't know how the best way was going to be to get all this...

the powder back from here.

Collecting the powder from the stony ground

is also a first for the expert.

This sort of thing... Well, it's never happened.

We find drugs, of course, and we recover drugs a lot.

But not on this sort of surface.

And PC Martin's nail brush comes in useful after all.

It's worked out at being one of the best tools.

Even the SOCO guys even said this is a great tool.

So I think he'll be getting one in his bag from now on.

There's more good news for the cops.

The crucial moments as the men threw the bag out of the car

have been caught on CCTV.

You see it just over there, just as that lorry's coming up,

there's a camera pointing up. Just by that bridge.

The camera picks up the car as it heads through the underpass.

The passenger door opens and the bag flies out,

showering the road sign with powder.

It's all come together.

We've seized the drugs, we've got two people in custody,

we've got camera footage of it. And an eyewitness.

It doesn't really get much better than that, as far as a job goes.

It's almost like already done and dusted, you could say.

All that's left for PCs Toal and Martin to do

is to wash away the last traces of the powder.

We didn't want people lined up on the streets trying

to collect white powder.

So we had to make sure that we cleaned the scene as best we could.

I think John did a good job, to be fair, he was a good scrubber.

Job done.

20 miles away in Chelmsley Wood, PCs Colman and Rojek

are also cleaning up.

They're about to seize the car with no insurance, driven by a man

with no licence, who took the car without telling his girlfriend.

But he's got news for the cops. He claims he's turned over a new leaf.

What have you been with in trouble before?

Yeah, what was that for, last time?

OK.

'For someone who said he was going straight,

'he was in a car that he shouldn't have, for a start.'

He'd got no licence to drive the car, clearly got no insurance.

And a home-made baseball bat tucked under the seat so...

he wasn't really going that straight to me.

And at Chelmsley Wood Police Station, PC Colman

begins searching the driver.

I said, 'have you anything else on you?'

Once again, he has an excuse.

Just popped out his trousers.

You're under arrest on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance.

-Anything else?

-No, mate.

I asked him, 'Have you got anything?' He said, 'No.'

We get to the station. Surprise, surprise, he's got cannabis on him.

As he'd lied to us, we don't know if he's got it stashed anywhere else.

So PC Colman has the unenviable task of strip searching him.

Lovely. Do love looking at hairy arses(!)

A horrible thing to do.

'Doing a strip search of a male,'

got to inspect areas that you don't really want to be looking up.

But it's a part of the job you've got to do.

But we have found some strange things up there.

This time, there are no strange things to find,

and so he's taken to the cells

while the cops turn their attention to the wooden pole they found in his car.

It looks like a curtain pole, to me, by the thickness of it.

So that would be on the window.

Slide your curtains nice, but he's sawed the ends off it.

That's where the little thing goes on the end, isn't it?

Give someone a real good whack with that.

We can't go letting everyone walk around the streets

with weapons that they've home-made.

Because there would be absolute chaos.

It's not there for a joke or for show.

As far as I'm concerned, that's been made for a purpose.

Whether that be self-defence or something more sinister,

but at the end of the day, you can't take the law into your own hands.

It's 9pm. And 40 miles away, on the M5, motorway cops Adam Toal

and John Martin are back out on patrol.

They've just received a call about another car

thought to be involved in drug dealing.

Yeah, OK, Pete, there's a good chance it will come off at five.

That's where we think it came off yesterday.

The Mercedes is back again.

-Which one was that, the blue one?

-The drugs from Ludlow.

They've been trying to track down the car for the past few days,

and it's just been seen travelling in their direction.

There's a good chance he's probably going to come off at five.

Going back through towards Ludlow, that way.

So we're going to just make towards five, mate.

Information's come as A1.

The intelligence suggests the car is being used by someone

selling drugs to migrant workers in the Ludlow area.

The information that we'd had was good information.

It had come from the local area and potentially this information

was going to lead us to, potentially, some quantity of drugs.

Yes, Steve, just to let you know, we're off at five, mate.

I'll be assuming you'll probably pick it up before we do.

If it does come off at five, let us know and we'll obviously

go for a stop at the bottom of the slip road if you want to.

Before anything happens.

With another patrol following some distance behind the target car,

PCs Toal and Martin take up position near the motorway exit

they believe the car will take.

I was thinking like waiting here, but in this little thing here.

We'll just block the slip road.

Just block it in, he's got nowhere to go then.

They're behind it. He's got no chance of ditching then, has it?

We tend to, especially with drugs, try to stop them fairly quickly.

Timing will be everything.

But PC Toal can't close the slip road's inside lane

until he knows the car is definitely coming off the motorway.

-RADIO:

-'We're approaching the half mile board

'and vehicle's moving to lane one.'

The cops following the target car update them as they get nearer.

300 and 200 marker. 100, still no indication.

No indication.

-Standard five.

-Yeah, he's indicating left and it's off off at five.

Now they know it's coming off, the cops get into position.

Two three, yeah we've got the slip road closed at the moment for you.

We don't mess around, we don't have time to mess around

because you've got traffic even on the slip roads at high speeds

and, obviously, you've got the main roads off the slip road as well.

Just open the door for us.

Lovely. Would you step out the vehicle a second for us, mate?

The cops need to split up the three men in the car,

so PC Toal deals with the driver.

Come and have a seat with us in there for a second.

He'll be questioned by PC Martin, and the car will be searched

after the two passengers are put in separate cars.

All right, mate, just come with us.

I'll explain what's going on in a sec, all right.

-I no speak English.

-No speak English.

We've got three detained, we'll move the vehicle off, get it out the way.

Once you've got these people separated,

you can see that at least a couple of them are quite edgy.

They seem quite nervous as if they've got something to hide.

So I'm quite keen to get that vehicle searched and obviously see

if we can find what we're looking for.

Have you got anything on you that you shouldn't have, fella?

Yeah, just in our vehicle at the moment. Just off the slip road there.

Just by McDonalds at junction five.

-Right. Have you got any ID on you?

-Yeah, in my car.

-In your car.

-Is it in your wallet, is it?

-Can I pinch your torch, please?

-Yeah. In the console, yeah?

-I'll go and get that for you.

PC Toal makes a quick check of the car

and discovers something more interesting than the man's licence.

Can you just let him know, mate... You've got it?

The car smells of cannabis, and his mate, so we're doing a search.

Oh, right. Right, your car smells of cannabis, you heard that?

We're going to do the necessary and search the vehicle and double check if there's anything in it.

If there are drugs in the car, a thorough search will soon reveal

whether the cops' A1 information will pay off.

Over on the M6, PCs Al Colman and Jess Rojek are receiving a call

about a stolen car that's been spotted in Birmingham city centre.

'A red Volkswagen Golf. X-ray 838 Kilo November Tango.

'Stolen with keys.'

There's a stolen red VW Golf that's gone into city.

Stolen with keys from the Mosley area.

So we're literally four minutes away.

Stolen with keys may mean the owner is a victim of a car key burglary, an increasing problem.

Thieves target houses with expensive motors outside,

then break in to get the keys and steal the cars.

That's the second biggest thing you buy,

apart from your house or your mortgage, is your car.

Some people spend thousands of pounds on their car

and then these little gits break into your house and steal them

and drive them like a go-kart.

Got another one of our motorway colleagues who's actually in the area where it's been last sighted.

Who says there's no trace at the moment,

so we're going an alternative route, to see if it's gone a different way.

It's got to be about somewhere, ain't it?

It's only stolen bloody two days ago.

-'Tango zero one five, priority.'

-He's got it.

The other patrol get behind the stolen car.

It's nearby, but PCs Colman and Rojek need an exact location so they can help intercept it.

Yeah, were are you, Paul?

'Just coming back onto Constitution Hill, 66, did a u-turn.'

'OK, he's going into city.'

Got a unit now behind the vehicle.

Literally round the corner. I'd expect it to fail to stop,

but it hasn't as yet, it's failed to stop.

'Vehicle failed to stop. Tango sierra one five, you're lead vehicle.'

'Yeah, it's right, right, I'll give you a road name in a moment.

'Road conditions dry. No other vehicles on the road.'

-Say right, did they?

-'Speed, five zero miles an hour.'

'Seven six, stinger and that's authorised. Charlie six, go.'

As they race to catch the pursuit, the stolen car keeps switching direction.

-'Left, left onto...'

-Unit Street.

'Into Hospital Street.'

Oh, no, no, no, no! It's up here, it's up here, it's up here.

-'Back on Constitution Hill. Left, left.'

-They almost went behind us.

The car's heading straight for PCs Colman and Rojek

who are in an ideal position to help their colleagues out

by setting up a stinger to puncture its tyres.

-Coming this way, yeah?

-Yeah.

My radio's gone.

But yet again the stolen car changes direction.

-Where's the stinger?

-He's turned, he's turned.

-He's turned right.

I thought it was going to be my first stinger deployment.

It was all perfectly placed. But that's just one of those things.

And yet again, PCs Rojek and Colman have to rejoin the chase.

-Nearly had 'em, Jess.

-Once again all they have to go on are the radio updates from the pursuing cars.

'We've now gone right, right Lancaster Street. Against traffic.'

'There is no other vehicles on the road.'

It's going to get abandoned in a minute.

'...one vehicle come towards us, he has seen us in plenty of time.'

The cops know that if the pursuit gets too dangerous,

senior officers are likely to call it off.

'No, the wrong way round Lancaster Circus Queensway.'

Now the driver of the stolen car is heading the wrong way down a major road.

Every pursuit that goes on, will be monitored by an inspector.

If he deems it to be unsafe, he will step in and call that pursuit off.

'He's now turned right back onto the correct side of the road.'

'No other vehicles being inconvenienced.'

'Yankee Mike, Yankee Mike, Tango Charlie six, six stop and abandon.'

As they predicted, the inspector in the control room has called off the pursuit.

Much to the motorway cops' frustration.

-There's nothing on the road.

-Eh?

There's nothing on the road for it to be... do you know what I mean?

The force control room inspector

decided on that occasion that the pursuit should be abandoned.

Whether you agree with that decision on that night

doesn't really come into it, because what they say, goes.

For now, the ground pursuit has been abandoned.

But the car thief's not home free, because the cops have another plan.

The police helicopter is on its way.

They can see what pedestrians are about, what traffic's about,

what's round the corner they can sort of see things that you can't see.

So if you have got that air support, that can change the goalposts.

The motorway cops know the stolen car is in the area, but they don't know exactly where.

And the fear is it may disappear before the chopper arrives on scene.

On the north side of Birmingham, PC Martin Smith is also on the trail of a vehicle that may be stolen.

We have a motor that's been involved in a burglary in Stourbridge.

It's a black Ford Focus on a 10 plate.

The vehicle's registered to Kingstanding, but I don't suspect it's a legitimate vehicle.

It's unusual for burglars to use their own car.

The chances of detection are just too high.

You'd at least nick one if you're going to do a burglary.

Any burglar with a degree of competence

is not going to use his own car. Absolutely not.

The owner of the Focus may not yet realise his car's been stolen.

PC Smith decides to test his theory and pay him a visit.

I'm going to have a nose up there to the keeper's address.

We're about a mile and a half away on the sat nav from the address,

but this is sort of the edge of Kingstanding coming up.

If the car isn't there, he'll have bad news for the owner.

So we'll soon find out. This is the... this is the road.

I didn't really expect it to be there. Or if I did, I expected it to be...

If I saw it, I expected it to be on the driveway, parked up, secure and nice and cold.

But, strangely, the black Focus is on the driveway

and its steamy windows are ringing alarm bells.

So he decides to check if the car's been used before speaking to the owner.

It's hot.

This puts paid to his theory the car was stolen.

Yeah, it's very warm.

Mmm. Could be a plan of attack for this.

Now the suspicion falls on the owner of the motor.

PC Smith decides to tuck the police car out of sight, while he thinks of a new plan.

Could it be that they've used their own car to break into something?

It was quite a surprise to see that we'd got a car

that was red hot and clearly had recently been used.

The car's been used for a reasonably extended period.

And we're talking longer than just a couple of minutes down the road

to the chippie and back again.

But that's all we've got at the moment.

In the absence of anything at the other end, where the actual offence has been committed.

He calls for more details on the burglary.

The burglar was quite brazen. He was standing by his car

whilst somebody else was committing the offence in the house.

The owner has returned and at that point, the car,

at some stage, has made a getaway.

Nine six, can I cut in?

I think there's a bit of movement outside the address for the Focus, but stand by.

Somebody came out, stood by the Focus and disappeared again.

I'm not sure whether they're in it or not.

PC Smith now has to keep tabs on the owner of the car

while he waits for back-up to arrive.

Near Droitwitch, PC Toal is searching a car

he suspects is being used to transport drugs.

Got some peanuts, mate. And some cake rusk, whatever that is.

Meanwhile, PC Martin is talking to the driver.

What have you got in the car that you shouldn't have?

-Nothing.

-All right, I could see you started to shake.

We're looking in that car solely for drugs at this time,

or anything linking it to drugs.

So drug paraphernalia, anything for possession with intent to supply.

When I've opened the boot, they've obviously been to the wholesalers.

It's just a mass of fruit and veg.

-Now don't insult my intelligence, all right.

-Sorry?

Don't insult me, I know what's in there.

Maybe a joint of one of my friends.

Is there cannabis in there then, is there?

There's something in this car, mate.

There's got to be something in this car.

And it turns out there is. Not just fruit and veg,

but a bag of herb too.

OK, a little bit more my colleague's just found in there.

We've got cannabis bush as well.

And PC Toal has found something else.

Oh! What are those then?

I don't know if you can see, there's a little mushroom design on there.

Which would suggest that these are probably amphet tablets,

ecstasy, something like that.

So we've got a quantity there of class A drug at the moment.

Oh, some scales there mate. Got some digital scales.

I don't know if you can see, there's some white powder.

Some white residue. And there's loads of it all down the sides here.

Which would suggest that this has been used to weigh narcotics out,

possibly cocaine or amphetamine.

We've got enough there to take them in at least to do drugs searches.

You don't have scales for your own personal use,

you have those to weigh out,

to distribute to people you're selling to.

So we'll just dig a bit deeper with the vehicle

and see what else we come up trumps with, maybe.

Oh, lovely. Possibly cocaine. Or amphet again.

Inside somebody's wallet.

And I think it's damn decent of the person that's got it as well

to even leave us his ID card.

So... very difficult, really, isn't it, to get out of that one.

The find just keeps getting better at the moment.

It's time to confront the driver with what he's found inside his car.

-All right. Those are the driving docs I found.

-Yeah.

-Do you speak English?

-He's very good, we're having a chat.

-Amphet, cocaine, and cannabis.

-Right.

-That's what we got.

-And scales as well.

-Right, so we're doing all three of them, then?

-Yeah.

Right. OK.

Found something in your car that you shouldn't really have.

-In the car?

-Yes.

-I think you know they're in there.

-No, I didn't know.

Even though the driver insists the drugs in the car are nothing to do with him,

the cops suspect there's more to this.

They'll be taking all three men to Worcester Police Station to try and discover the full story.

Back in Birmingham city centre, PCs Colman and Rojek are still hoping

to catch the stolen Golf which got away from the police when the chase was abandoned.

Ground units and Alpha Oscar one, the police helicopter,

are now scouring the streets for any sign of the car.

-Have we lost sight of this vehicle?

-Yeah, it's disappeared now, innit?

Just as PC Rojek packs away the stinger,

the helicopter observer spots a likely vehicle.

'We've got a possible here. Could we have a vehicle to Stratford Road, junction of College Road, over?'

It's going towards the A3. Where it was stolen from.

It is good news, when it's back on and you're back raring to go again.

As they race to reach the car, it seems the driver isn't sure which way to turn.

'He's gone round this roundabout twice now. Stand by, one.'

But hanging around here may not be such a wise move

because this is a part of town PC Rojek knows well.

The good thing is I know this area like the back of my hand.

Because it was floating around my old patch where I worked before motorway,

I could anticipate where it was going to go next.

I knew exactly what roads it was going to turn into and what route it was likely to take.

Yeah, I was quite excited about that.

With the helicopter above, they can follow the car's every move.

As it heads back into town, the cops are waiting.

'OK, Stratford Road, high speed. Back towards the city.'

But as they deploy a stinger strip to puncture the car's tyres,

the driver puts the brakes on.

Just in time.

As he hits reverse, another car tries to block him.

But he's too quick.

'Stratford Road, vehicle's reversing turning round,

'probably get on the downlink, and he's Stratford Road out of city.'

And he's heading straight towards PC Colman's Range Rover.

Out of city again, so it's coming towards us.

Just ahead of them, the stolen car darts into a side street.

'He's gone right, right into... Griswold Road.'

PC Colman quickly joins the pursuit.

We're in a Range Rover. Quite a large vehicle, very powerful vehicle, very capable vehicle,

but its handling capabilities differ greatly to a car.

So it's quite big to chuck around the streets.

'Three zero miles an hour. We're coming up to the junction.'

PC Rojek knows these streets,

and she thinks she knows where the driver is headed, too.

He's going towards Moseley. We could loop back round.

-Where's second vehicle?

-He's going to go back towards city.

'Speed, four zero miles an hour. No other vehicles on the road.'

There's three police cars behind him.

There's every chance he's just going to do one out the car.

If the driver decides to do one and ditch the car,

he'll have to be quick,

because the cops have blocked the road and set up a second stinger.

I could see up ahead that there was another officer ready to try and sting the vehicle.

He clearly knew what was coming.

Rather than bail out, the driver sees another option. And takes it.

-He's going off road!

-But he wasn't counting on PC Colman's Range Rover.

Big tyres, four wheel drive. We zipped up and were right behind him.

As the car goes off road, the Range Rover finally comes into its own.

That's us, that's us, Jess.

And so does PC Jess Rojek.

It's her first pursuit, but she's got local knowledge.

Oscar Tango two two, we are now lead vehicle, we are Borstal Heath Road.

At this point we're now the lead vehicle.

So I'm thinking, this is great. Can do commentary for the first time.

And so I take over the commentary.

It was on my old patch, I knew every single road, every single turning.

And I could anticipate exactly where he was going.

It's a continuation onto Balsam Heath Road.

She remained calm, she didn't get excited.

That's one of the things that can sort of tell the control room

maybe we ought to call this off,

the officer's too excited. It might be dangerous.

Road conditions empty, there are no other vehicles,

It's appropriate to continue at this time.

Is Alpha Oscar One going to take commentary or will I continue?

It's a right, right. Right, right.

-IC3 male.

-'Check your mike, Alpha Oscar One.'

'Go on, take the commentary please.'

'Thank you, I will take the commentary on this pursuit,

'unless I need the traffic car to do so.'

Unfortunately, the air support wanted to take over the commentary.

So I had to give that up after a few seconds,

which did annoy me,

because I really did know exactly where he was going.

With the helicopter tracking the stolen car from above,

the cops can take some time to regroup and come up with a plan to stop the car.

Nine miles away in Kingstanding, PC Smith is also hatching a plan.

He's called in extra patrols to confront the owner of a car

that was seen at a burglary earlier in the evening.

I can just see the headlights of the police car,

they're just showing round the corner.

At the first patrol car arrives, PC Smith gets an update on the burglary.

'Yes, from Delta Yankee. They found a pair of gloves.'

It seems the point of the break in was to steal the keys of a high performance car.

What's known to be nicked so far is some jewellery, some house keys and a BMW car key.

So potentially they'd have been looking at going back for the car at some stage.

They've a left pair of gloves and a screwdriver on the bed in one of the bedrooms,

so we've got a definite break in, we've got definite offences.

Knock the door and see what they've got to say about their car being seen out there.

With the arrival of more officers, PC Smith is ready to go in.

OK, our support's here, so we're going in.

The house is surrounded,

but the cops think the suspect may be looking for a way out.

It's somebody at the window, but they disappeared back inside quickly.

He's a dark haired kid that came out.

Police, open the door!

When that goes on you're thinking,

is he hiding evidence, what's he doing?

Is he moving stuff around the house that he doesn't want us to find?

-Hello, mate. Do you mind if we come and speak to you.

-No.

Can we have a chat with you? Brilliant.

There's been a burglary in Stourbridge.

Your car was seen at the scene and to leave the scene.

-OK. Have you been anywhere tonight?

-No.

When was the last time you went out in the car?

-Earlier today.

-Who else has been in the car?

-My partner.

-When? When and where?

-Today.

-What time?

-Hours ago.

Hours. OK mate, well I've been outside for half an hour, the car's hot.

-The exhaust, the wheels and the brake discs are hot.

-It's clearly been used.

It's been used for an extended period. I believe you may have been involved in the burglary.

You can't account for the car being there, can you?

You say it hasn't been used for hours. I'm saying it's been used recently.

So your suspicions are there and they're heightened straight away.

You think this chap's probably lying and he's lying because he's burgled the place.

You're under arrest on suspicion of burglary.

You didn't account for what I've told you about your car being there and being hot.

You said it ain't been used for hours, that's impossible. I couldn't hold the exhaust a minute ago. OK?

-While we're here, we'll be...

-I did pop out earlier.

No, you didn't say that, mate. You had opportunity, OK.

-I haven't been out in the car, but I just flew round the corner.

-No, mate.

Because the man's story doesn't add up, the cops have grounds to search his car

for anything that may link him to the burglary.

-Yeah, we've got several gloves here and singular ones.

-There's got to be stripes on it.

We've got one glove on its own,

it's like a woollen glove with two grey stripes across the top.

Well, if he's wore them, there'll be DNA in them, won't there?

It's unusual we've got so many gloves.

He came to the window, looked, and darted back into the house.

So there was something. He may have stashed it, Even inside the settee.

Even though the cops find nothing that directly incriminates the man,

there's evidence to bring him in for questioning.

-But he's not playing ball.

-What, no you've got to co...

-No fucking way.

You know what I'm about to do? Fuck his head in.

Eventually, the man calms down enough to let the cops take him in.

There was specific intelligence about that individual to link him

to an on-going burglary initiative in that area.

So two and two's equalling six quite quickly with this guy.

And without a good explanation there's only one place he was going -

straight to the police station under arrest.

Over in Birmingham City Centre, PCs Colman and Rojek

are also hoping to make an arrest.

The cops have been co-ordinating a plan to stop

the driver of the stolen Golf.

The car's being tracked by the police chopper

and, once again, a stinger unit is in position.

With the road to the right blocked,

the driver heads straight over the stinger.

It's third time lucky for the cops.

It has been stung, he's got two near side deflations, by the looks of it.

No, he hasn't. Has it? Yeah, it has.

Definitely got a deflation front near side.

With two tyres out of action, the driver can't outrun the cops.

But he still refuses to give up,

even though the pursuit is now slowing down to a crawl.

It's like something out of a Carry On film.

I'm getting a headache.

I thought any minute now he's just going to come to a halt

and we're just going to see him boot it out of the door.

I just want to him to just get out and run

and just have done with it, so I can chase him.

But the driver of the Golf has other ideas.

He didn't get out, he didn't run. He just carried on.

And he carried on. And he carried on.

And on. And on and on and it just went on and on and on.

Surely he's going to get out and run.

The car's deflated front tyre finally breaks free.

The wheel's come off, his tyre's off, his tyre is off.

With only three tyres left, the stolen Golf is struggling to keep going

but, frustratingly, the cops still have to play a waiting game.

I could run after it. Someone could just run at it now, couldn't they?

-RADIO:

-'It's a left, left into the Children's Hospital. Standby.'

After leading the cops round in circles,

it seems the driver does have a plan,

with a specific destination in mind.

He's stopping at the Police Station!

THEY LAUGH

Thank you, vehicle's stopped.

He's finally put on the brakes

outside Birmingham Central Police Station.

SIRENS BLARE

The driver's taken the short walk to the custody suite, while PCs Colman and Rojek

have a look at the car that went so far on so few tyres.

I don't know how many times he got stung.

-He got stung quite a few and it's only done...

-Front near side's gone.

-That went on the first sting.

-Yeah.

When they steal your car, they don't drive it like Miss Daisy.

You know, they absolutely rag it.

Really, do you want your car back after that's been done to it?

The people I've spoke to after I've pursued cars

and arrested someone, they don't care about the car.

They're absolutely over the moon that you've caught them.

At Worcester Police Station,

the three men who were arrested

after PC Toal found drugs in their car are being booked into custody.

And PC Martin is taking the opportunity

to have a closer look at their belongings.

Think it's a memory card.

Can I just have the camera?

Yeah.

While the driver and one his passengers are taken to the cells...

DOOR SLAMS SHUT

..the man who had drugs in his wallet

is facing some further questions.

-What have you taken today?

-Amphetamine and what you find.

-You've taken...what have you taken today?

-Yes, I take amphetamine all the time.

-Amphetamine.

-Amphetamine is my...problem.

-OK.

OK, do you know how much you've taken today?

Not sure. Little bit.

Despite his admissions, the cops suspect he's holding something back.

One of my colleagues came through

and he said that we've just searched the passenger of the car, in custody.

And we found this odd bit of plastic

and also a USB stick which was in his sock.

So you think, well, USB sticks are for computers,

but why would you put it in your sock?

And then we kind of had a bit of a debate as to what is this bit of plastic.

We decided that, actually, that's actually from a speed bank.

It's actually the bit that you actually place your card into.

The card gets taken in by the machine and then obviously it spits it out.

Cashpoint fraud is a huge problem in the UK.

It's estimated that £33 million is stolen by card-skimming gangs every year.

The cops may have uncovered a more organised criminal activity

than their information first suggested.

We thought, well, OK, I think we really need to go back to the car.

A specially trained dog is brought in to hunt out hidden cash,

while PC Toal is getting to grips

with all the bags and packages in the boot.

Initially, the search itself was solely for drugs.

So now we're looking in the car for wires, anything electrical-wise.

And he doesn't have to dig too deep.

That's the stuff we're after.

All the electrical little bits.

All the wires. We want that.

Among coils of cables are a couple of tiny cameras.

We'll take all those wires as well.

There's all your little bits.

The cops believe they may have been used to secretly film people's PIN numbers at cash machines.

That's a result.

Take all that with us.

We've obviously had to get everything out the vehicle.

All the fruits and veg, etc.

Underneath all that was a roll of what I thought was a roll of newspaper.

And when I've unravelled it...

..hey presto, we found the front for an ATM cash machine.

We've got a...potentially a card...

it's something that's been made or adapted to go onto an ATM machine,

where your card would go in.

If you can see there, it's a mobile phone battery.

What's that doing on a piece of plastic with some wiring on the back?

What they're doing is they're using that on the front of an ATM cash machine.

The cards will go in,

there'll be electrical device on the back of here

that's reading the card numbers on somebody's card.

That's what we call a Lebanese Loop.

It's made and adapted to get people's card details.

So that's a very good find and it's going to add weight to,

obviously, the investigation today. So it's a top result.

In my 14 years of being a police officer,

I've only ever come across this twice before.

So it's a rare crime to actually come across,

but a common crime that happens and we never normally catch them.

Despite PC Toal's discoveries,

no further action was taken against the driver or his passenger.

The man with amphetamines in his wallet was bailed

but is believed to have left the country.

He's still wanted for questioning about the drugs and the Lebanese Loop.

The man in the stolen Golf who drove to the Police Station to be arrested

was disqualified for two years and given 16 months in prison.

The man who took his girlfriend's car without her permission was lucky.

She didn't press charges.

He was fined £200 for driving with no insurance

and he'll get six points on his licence... when he passes his test.

The drugs thrown from the car window at Frankley Services

turned out to be ketamine.

The passenger was found guilty of possession with intent to supply.

The driver was not convicted of possession with intent to supply

but was convicted of dangerous driving.

And the teenager who was chased across two counties didn't have a licence.

He was given a referral order, disqualified for a year,

and must sit an extended driving test.

His passenger, who was arrested by PC Nijjar, was given a referral order for possessing cannabis.

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