Duty of Care Motorway Cops

A motorway cop's duties are always complex.

We need some sort of padding from the first-aid box.

From carer...

Sierra two, we have a vehicle failing to stop.

..to enforcer.

It is safe to continue at this time.

Because on the motorway, you never know what to expect.

My heart hasn't finished pounding yet,

but yeah, I'm really pleased they're here.

And looking after the vulnerable...

-Can you hear me all right, Bill?

-Yeah.

..is all part of the job.

-I'm just trying to protect you, save you from being killed.

-Yeah.

Somebody's got to put themselves forward,

put themselves in harm's way

to make sure other people are looked after in society.

That's why I do it, to do that and to make a difference.

To protect people.

The M62 cuts across West Yorkshire.

Just north of the motorway's halfway point sits the city of Bradford.

During rush hour, nearly 30,000 vehicles

use the city roads and carriageways.

Trying to stay on top of it all are the motorway cops.

SIREN WAILS

Afternoon traffic is building

as West Yorkshire officers Lindsey Pickles and Andy Barron

head into Bradford.

They are only a couple of miles away from the centre

when a report comes over the radio.

A city-centre patrol car is pursuing a speeding driver.

Let's go for that.

Shipley Airedale Road is a main A650 arterial route through Bradford,

so it's extremely busy.

That's a massive, massive A road, is that.

That is very close. That's coming up, that is.

We knew from the call signs that the police vehicle

couldn't pursue this car for very long.

It would need specialist support very, very quickly.

The pursuit is less than a mile away.

The motorway cops are trained to pursue.

If they can get there quickly, they can take over from the patrol car.

But the busy lunchtime traffic is slowing them down.

Why is nobody hearing me?

Tango four one, we're standing by a mile ahead,

Wakefield Road at junction with Dudley Hill.

There's obviously that adrenaline rush

when somebody is not stopping,

but it's more fear than anything else.

It's, "What's going to become of this, how's it going to end?"

It's crashed.

We've got a green Ford Focus

that's been failing to stop for another unit coming towards us.

It's about a mile down this road.

However, we're getting information that it's crashed.

Romeo Tango four one,

we're 30 seconds away now, coming up the Canal Road.

It were just complete carnage, really.

This one.

Can we ask local divisional units, please,

to put me a road closure on

at the Shipley Airedale Road junction at Leeds Road.

We need a full closure on Shipley Airedale Road.

The Ford Focus being pursued has crashed into two other cars.

The driver of one of them

and the passenger of the Ford Focus are injured.

But the cops don't yet know how badly.

It's when you arrive at a scene

and you're the first to arrive and nobody else is there,

that's when it's chaotic and you've got to really think carefully.

Is there going to be loss of life

if I do something wrong, or different?

Just sit still, lovey. Just sit still, keep yourself still.

We need some sort of padding from the first-aid box.

Just keep yourself still.

In this situation,

the cops' first priority is to take care of the injured.

No matter who we're dealing with,

if the ambulance is not there, then, yes,

our main concern is that we tend to the injured parties.

The passenger in the Focus is their main concern.

He's bleeding heavily from a head wound.

Talk to me, lovey, talk to me. What's your name?

BLEEP

We've got some help coming to you.

The ambulance is on its way, OK? All right?

-I'm sorry if I'm being rude.

-It's all right, you're not.

-I'm shaking!

-It's all right, it's all right.

It don't matter. Keep still.

I'm concerned about has it got any glass in it, that's all.

Can you get into t'back? No.

Talk to me, lovey.

I was aware that that was the offending vehicle.

We'd had the vehicle described to us.

I knew that that was the vehicle involved.

But at the end of the day, you've got an injured passenger there.

He needs medical help.

Keep still.

The man who has caused all this has run off.

The driver could clearly see the injuries to that passenger.

It would have been impossible not to.

But his concern was him and getting away.

No concern for the life of that front-seat passenger.

Keep still so I can just keep some pressure on it, lovey, all right.

My leg feels all swollen.

Does it? It's all right. We'll sort your leg.

As the minutes tick by,

the passenger is losing more and more blood from his wound.

So my concern was to get some pressure on that

to try and stem the bleeding.

Keep talking to us. Yeah, yeah.

Keep it as still as you can. We're keeping pressure on it.

Can you hold my hand, please?

I'll hold your hand. I'll hold your hand.

And the duty of care is

part and parcel of everything that we do as police officers.

No matter who we're dealing with.

The crash has caused long tailbacks

and the emergency services have had to fight their way through.

The first thing that I like to see is the ambulance,

the paramedics there, the first responders.

Once I know they're there,

my attention can go completely away from any injured parties.

I can let out a sigh of relief, if you like.

Dealing with a serious crash like this

brings back painful memories for Andy.

When I first passed my driving test,

I were involved in a fatal collision on a motorway on the M62

where me best friend died in the car.

We broke down on the hard shoulder and something smashed into the back.

I would say devastating life...experience.

And I think that drove me to think, "I want to be a cop."

And that's at the back of all my drive.

Reduce carnage

and stop people losing their lives, basically.

Ambulance is here, OK? Keep talking to us.

-I'm here.

-Yeah, you're there still, yeah.

Lindsey can finally hand over the injured passenger

to the care of the paramedics.

-Do you want me to get out of the way now?

-Er...yeah.

To be honest, at this stage, he's the most seriously injured.

The fire are going to have to take the roof off to get him out

because he's complaining of neck, back and leg injuries.

So we'll take the roof off the vehicle

and extract him on a board

and get him seen to as quickly as possible.

And then we'll just speak to the officers that were at the scene

to ascertain exactly what's happened.

The other injured motorist is trapped in his car.

The paramedics think he may have spinal injuries

and so the fire brigade will have to cut him free.

But before they get to work, he shares what he knows with Lindsey.

With paramedics now in attendance,

Lindsey and Andy switch from carers back to cops.

We need to gather that evidence

so that potentially, the person that's caused this

is ultimately going to be going to court

and pay the price for what they've done.

Three miles south of Bradford is the M62.

It's one of the busiest motorways in the country.

150,000 vehicles use it every day.

This is PCs Phil Stonebanks and Dave Robson's patch.

Yeah, it's always been in the blood.

It's always been a family tradition to be in the police.

Me granddad was in, both me parents were in.

And I suppose it was always a natural progression for me to go in.

But 24 years in, I can honestly still say

I love coming to work. I love doing my job.

Being out there, driving on the roads.

You come across breakdowns, you just never know. Every day is different.

The motorway traffic is building up when a call comes in.

A driver has broken down in the fast lane.

This one's causing massive tailbacks already.

And once traffic suddenly starts slowing down,

then that's when we can get accidents

with vehicles running into the back of the tailbacks,

not aware of what's happening up ahead of them.

Rush hour's approaching

and it's getting just as busy here as in the city.

Phil and Dave are struggling to get through the traffic.

We hit the tailbacks on the M1,

probably about a mile and a half before the M62.

And the breakdown was about five miles further up the M62.

Prepare to breathe in.

That one vehicle, in lane three, in the roadworks,

where there was no hard shoulder,

just caused about five miles of tailbacks

probably within the space of 20 minutes.

It caused absolute chaos, did that.

That's it. Let's get friendly.

If the motorway cops are having problems,

a recovery vehicle has no chance.

The free recovery doesn't have blue lights and sirens

and can't force his way through traffic like we can.

So potentially, it could just end up sitting back there in the traffic

and can't get through, the free recovery.

Phil and Dave's first duty is to ensure the stranded driver is safe.

Let me have a look. We'll just try and do what we can.

My heart hasn't finished pounding. I'm really pleased they're here.

Hopefully, they'll be able to get me out of the fast lane quite soon.

Yeah, bit, bit scared.

With the driver safe,

Phil and Dave turn their attention to the five-mile tailback.

If they can't clear the fast lane quickly,

there's going to be even more chaos on the motorway.

Just confirm we've got free recovery en route.

It's not starting for some reason.

Crawling along in first gear and started to gather a bit of pace.

I put it into second and it just died.

Free recovery is potentially en route, we're trying to get an update.

The Highways Agency couldn't find the vehicle.

We think they're possibly somewhere in the tailbacks behind us.

With the recovery truck stuck in traffic,

it's now up to Phil and Dave to try and move the brand-new Range Rover.

But it isn't going to be easy.

I shut the door, locked it with the key

because it could have had immobilisers on it.

I opened it back up again, you know, with the key.

Put it in gear, pull the clutch up,

then press start and it will leapfrog across.

Right, yeah, we'll have a go, yeah.

I think a call into Land Rover will be one of the first things we do.

Leave the clutch up, now press the button.

The clutch on start.

It was stuck in gear, the handbrake electronic, that was stuck on.

Yeah, it's not going to do it, is it?

Modern electronic vehicles are wonderful,

so long as they're working fine.

But when they start going wrong, they are an absolute nightmare.

Because everything now is all just push buttons.

If the buttons don't work, there's not a right lot you can do about it.

Where's the handbrake on these ones?

Pull the silver pull.

Oh, right, yeah. Right, we're just checking.

Just knock the handbrake off, see if it'll move. If it'll move...

-Handbrake's still showing as on.

-Is it off, Dave?

Just one second.

Right, handbrake's off. Now it's on.

It comes on automatically, Phil.

If anything goes wrong now, you need a £10,000 computer

to plug the car into to make it work again.

In my days, you got your spanners out and fixed it and away you went.

Don't you just love modern technology?

What was wrong with a simple handbrake lever?

-It looks like an electrical fault.

-Yeah.

In desperation, they decide to tow the car across to the hard shoulder.

But even this isn't straightforward.

That's the wonder of modern cars.

They cover everything in plastic

and make everything completely inaccessible.

I'm just trying to find where the front towing eye goes

by looking in the owner's manual.

That's the back, that's the front.

Is that the front or is that the back?

The longer they struggle getting to grips with the car's manual,

the longer the tailback grows,

as does the frustration of the drivers who've been delayed.

You should have that over to the hard shoulder!

People do go by shaking their heads and tutting and things like that.

I just think, "What, you know, what are we supposed to do?

"You know, you come and tell us, Einstein."

If we could do it, we would have done it.

I don't want to be stood there blocking the carriageway.

I'd rather be doing something else.

But, yeah, they think they're...

They think we do it on purpose just to wind them up or something.

Yeah, I like lying down in the fast lane of the motorways.

I mean, it's, er...it certainly keeps you alert

and aware of what's going on around you.

There we go, nice big towing eye on there to get on to.

I think we'll have a crash cushion coming down.

But as they prepare to tow it, the recovery truck arrives.

We'll let them drag it on. At least they can get on the towing eye now,

so he's just going to pull up with the recovery truck,

hopefully drag the Range Rover on to the back of it

and then we'll be good to go.

One of the problems we have is people want to rubberneck

and want to know what's going off. So they'll slow down, start looking.

If you just leave them to their own devices, it causes more problems

because everybody's doing five, ten mile an hour.

But when we stand and start waving our arms,

you can visibly see the speed of the traffic moving up.

It's encouraging people to drive a bit faster and obviously,

it helps clear the tailbacks quicker, as well.

After 45 minutes, the Range Rover is finally removed from the fast lane.

And the cops can get the traffic moving again.

A female on her own, stuck in lane three, a lot of traffic around.

We didn't want her getting hurt, or anyone else.

I'm happy now, I've got me hands mucky.

If I go home at the end of the day with clean hands,

I've not done a good day's work.

Back in Bradford, officers Lindsey Pickles and Andy Barron

are investigating a crash involving three cars at a major junction.

Is there a chance we could have some assistance with PCSOs

to assist with road closures down at Valley Road, please?

The driver who caused it all has fled the scene,

leaving his passenger and the driver

of another car trapped and badly injured.

Obviously, once we're aware that ambulance have taken over

and they're happy dealing with the injured parties,

then we have to step up the game.

Lindsey and Andy need to piece together exactly what happened.

We need to fathom out what's gone on

and start preserving evidence and investigating this

and making sure we don't lose anything.

Is this yours?

Have you visually seen everything that's happened?

I have, yeah. It just happened that quick.

I just seen that car behind there, it goes...

I don't know, but it spun like that about three times

and hit that kerb there.

And that come from no... I don't even know where that come from.

-And it went straight into the back.

-Right.

One of the problems we have at this incident

is with the vehicle travelling at such high speed,

it would appear that it's arrived at this location in such a manner

that any potential witnesses that we might have had

have not had time to soak in where this vehicle's come from.

But the officers involved in the pursuit are still on the scene,

and Andy tracks them down.

Who was the driver? Had he been caught and who'd caught him?

I'm just trying to get a picture of who we're pursuing and in what.

We were pursuing in this.

-You were pursuing in this?

-Yeah.

Right. He's the driver?

-He's the driver.

-Right. Fantastic.

One of the cops is in plain clothes.

Andy discovers they caught the driver as he tried to run from the scene.

It all fell into place then. It were quite a relief to get all those details written down

and get a picture of what's gone on.

He's under arrest on suspicion of dangerous driving and failing to stop.

We're just trying to clarify whether he needs hospital attention,

or whether he can be taken straight to custody.

The passenger he abandoned has deep cuts to the head

and his condition is deteriorating.

He urgently needs to get to hospital.

The fire crews are working as fast as they can

to cut him out of the car.

That first hour, it's crucial to get them to the hospital

and get what they need, any medical attention, very, very quickly.

And that...A lot of people refer to it as a golden hour.

With the road blocked, the fastest option

is to take the passenger to hospital by air.

But landing a helicopter in the middle of a city

is a tricky operation.

Probably going to take this chap, so... Land there?

Yeah. If you're in communication with them, yeah.

He's the most serious, isn't he?

I don't know. I do not know what's going on in that car, to be honest.

-I've only looked at this gentleman here.

-Right, OK.

There's a lot still to do here. And Lindsey calls home.

PHONE RINGS OUT

"Go ahead, dear."

Can you ring our Emma, please,

and tell her one of them's going to have to pick Alex up from school

because I'm not going to get away from here quickly.

It's not the easiest job to balance work-home life

because on any day, we never know

whether we're going to finish or not.

So you always have to have a contingency plan for that.

It doesn't make it easy because we work long hours,

but my family have grown up with that,

so they don't know any different, really.

Excuse me! Can I have everyone behind this line, please?

Everyone behind this line now! Thank you very much.

Some of our time, unfortunately, is having to be tied up

dealing with people that are getting too close to the scene

and clearly need to be kept back.

Not only for safety reasons, because of glass and debris,

but also for the injured parties' privacy, basically.

They're still in vehicles trapped

and they don't really want people filming them on mobile phones

and being uploaded onto sites such as YouTube for the world to see.

It's improper.

So we try and prevent that as much as we can by getting a cordon.

The driver of one of the cars the Ford Focus crashed into is finally cut free.

As is the badly injured passenger Lindsey cared for.

The paramedics have stabilised the passenger.

And, with the road cleared, he can be driven to hospital.

As a roads policing officer,

the amount of serious injuries and fatalities that you deal with,

it does toughen you.

It has to do, otherwise you wouldn't be able to deal with the situations.

I do get quite emotional sometimes,

but I do have to put that on hold.

The driver who caused the accident is now under arrest.

He's got minor injuries and is also taken off to hospital.

He's driven with a complete disregard for anybody else on the road.

And if this had involved any sort of motorcycle or pedestrian,

I think the outcome would have been very, very different.

Chillingly, Andy discovers the driver has done this before.

I understand he's a banned driver following a fatal traffic collision.

So he could be going back to prison, hopefully.

These drivers should not be on the road.

They have no care or compassion for any other road users whatsoever.

We need to continue to get them off the road

and let the courts imprison them.

Just seven miles west, near Wakefield, is the M1.

Acting Sergeant Gary Panther

and PC Mick Roffe of the regional road crime team

are beginning their 10-hour shift in an unmarked car.

-That Golf in lane one over there.

-Yes, yes.

This car may help them get closer to criminals without being spotted,

but they believe that something less tangible is what really counts.

Everybody has an ability to sense something isn't right.

That gut feeling where you think, "this just doesn't feel right."

Yes, definitely, definitely, definitely.

On the outskirts of the city, near the M1 junction,

their instincts kick in

after spotting a suspicious-looking vehicle.

And they decide to follow it.

You look at it and you assess it.

Straightaway, you can tell, even at a distance, for this Golf,

from that distance, you just know, you know, that's just not right.

That's worth a second look, if you like.

And then, from then on, that instinct tingles.

It's just a vehicle that is commonly used

by criminality in the area, that's all.

A Golf, blacked-out windows, you can't really see who's in it.

So it's always worth a little look to see who's using it, really.

INDISTINCT RADIO

Yeah, run us one PNC, please.

Out the window.

Just on Flanshaw Way.

I was probably about four or five

when I thought about being a police officer.

It's just the only job I can see myself doing.

Even at that young age, it just interested me. Um...

The unfortunate thing, I had to wait so long until I were old enough.

Gary and Mick have a reputation

for getting results along the M1 corridor

hunting down law breakers.

Being a copper is a job that is needed.

And somebody's got to stand up and be counted.

Somebody's got to put themselves forward,

put themselves in harm's way to make sure other people

are looked after in society.

A flash of the blue lights tell the driver of the GTI to pull over.

He's off, lad. Come on.

So I sit there thinking, I'm not going to get out and walk.

It's a bit of a Mexican standoff.

I'm not going to get out and walk because I don't think you'll stop.

And lo and behold, his will broke before ours and off he went.

X-ray Tango, Sierra two.

Gary and Mick's instincts have paid off.

X-ray Tango, Sierra two, urgent.

Now they need backup.

Sierra two, we have a vehicle failing to stop on Flanshaw Lane.

It is safe to continue at this time.

We're double crewed,

TPAC trained in an unmarked vehicle fitted with lights and sirens.

Can we have authority for TPAC, please.

You hear the term TPAC used a lot

because it's an abbreviation of the tactics we use,

which are Tactical Pursuit And Containment.

We are in a pursuit situation with a vehicle.

Can we have authority to continue TPAC? Is 99 available?

The role that I adopted is the role of ground commander.

There is a ground commander in a pursuit

and an incident commander in a pursuit.

The incident commander has overall view and control of the pursuit.

They are in the control room and they use my commentary,

so what I am saying back to them,

to make a decision on whether

they are going to allow the pursuit to continue or not.

We are left, left on to Bailey Road.

Speed is 70. It is safe to continue at this time.

INDISTINCT RADIO

Yes, yes, we are still Batley Road, generally back towards Dewsbury.

While they wait for the decision to continue or stand down,

they are doing all they can to keep up.

Yes, yes, that's acknowledged. We are overtaking vehicles

wrong side of the road on Batley Road.

He knows he's struggling to get away.

And you could see that he'd started to... His risk started to go up.

Back to the correct. Speed is 70 and increasing.

Is 99 available and adopt to the area, please?

99 is the call sign of the Air Support unit.

But police helicopters are a scarce resource.

But it's the only way they've got

of guaranteeing they don't lose the GTI.

He certainly knows that there will be a point where it will be called off.

And he knows if that can happen

before the helicopter gets there, he's going to get away.

The cops are trained to drive safely at speed. The GTI driver is not.

He's pushing himself and the car to the limit

and chancing a deadly head-on collision.

You've got to look at yourself.

If I continue to chase him here, am I putting other people in danger?

Is my presence forcing him to do that?

As they race through a small town 50mph above the 30 limit,

the stakes are rising.

You can see 30mph speed limits approaching.

My worst fear is that there's somebody crossing the road.

There's going to be pedestrian crossings,

there's going to be slow-moving traffic.

Concern is mounting.

Unsuspecting pedestrians and drivers

could easily be caught up in the pursuit.

The cops need to stop the GTI before it becomes too dangerous

and they are ordered to stand down.

Just a couple of miles north

is the crossing point of the M62 and the M1.

Drivers from all over the country converge at this busy junction.

Bravo Tango 8-0, can you book us on fleet 138, please. Good afternoon.

Yeah, we'll make out to the job at junction 33.

PCs Doug Lofthouse and Dale Anderson work from Wakefield.

Starting their shift, they are heading to an incident on the M62.

This job on, on this day, was very unique in what happened,

the circumstances and how it,

how the job really moved on or progressed.

This isn't an everyday, run-of-the-mill type of job.

Yeah, we've just been called by the Highways Agency,

who have earlier attended a damage-only collision

involving a gentleman who we believe to be in his 90s.

Officers from the Highways Agency called the police

when they came across 91-year-old Bill

trying to change his wheel after he hit an HGV in his car.

-Hello, Bill.

-Hello, son.

-Are you all right? How are you doing?

Well, I'm all right.

The reason we're here is because the gentlemen who have been helping you

are concerned about getting you home and getting the vehicle recovered.

Oh, no, no. If I can get the front wheel done,

I've got a spare wheel there and I'll carry on then to Holland.

Let's have a look at your car, then.

Bill is en route to Holland, and is determined to get there.

Let's go and take a...take a look.

He says...He thinks it's driveable.

I said to come with us so I can point out anything to him.

Bill's brush with the HGV has torn up the side of his car.

You're not going to be able to drive that, you know.

He's maybe from a generation which, it'll physically work, it'll do.

Make do and mend and such.

Unfortunately, we've got more than

just sort of a commitment to help Bill out.

We've got a responsibility to make sure what he's doing

is going to be as safe as possible for, for everyone else.

Why?

Because all these bits, all these sharp parts,

that's what we'd call a dangerous part.

Yeah, well, once I get it to Holland, I'll get it done.

You can't drive this over to t'ferry, I'm afraid.

He wanted to drive off.

He thought that if he just changed his tyre, he could drive off.

At the time, we were obviously advising him against it,

but we didn't really know why he were in such a hurry to get off.

-Well, what am I going to do now, then?

-Right.

It'll have to be recovered and repaired properly.

But if you speak to your insurance,

they may be able to provide you with a courtesy car today.

But the quicker we get it done,

the more chance you've got of getting another car today.

Let's go back to the vehicles, where we can talk safely.

Doug and Dale need to find out

if anyone can pick Bill up and take him home.

Have you got no family, then, Bill?

I've got no family at all, no.

-None at all?

-They're all dead.

Right. Bloody hell.

-Got no kids or owt like that?

-No children, no.

Well, I've got one son, but he's dead an' all.

-Gee-whiz!

-He died about six months ago.

-Right. I'm sorry to hear that.

-So I'm on me own now.

He'd outlived his wife, he'd outlived his children.

Which must be not a nice thing when you're 90,

or in your 90s, with absolutely no family around you.

But I take my hat off to him.

To think that he's 91 with no family at all

and he's obviously on this big adventure.

-What were you going to Holland for?

-Pardon?

What are you going to Holland for?

-I'm going for five weeks.

-Ah, right.

-It's, er...it's the Parachute Regiment.

-Ah, right.

Every now and again, they have a do at Christmas.

Bill's a veteran of one of World War II's most heroic engagements,

the Battle of Arnhem.

And he's on his way to a reunion

with the last of his surviving comrades.

-What time's your ferry, Bill?

-Pardon?

What time's the ferry?

Nine o'clock. I've got to be there at seven.

Right. So we've still got a few hours to get you there, haven't we?

What we're going to do, we'll ring your insurance

and get a claim rolling for you and get you recovered.

I've got one of your customers with us

who's had a collision with a heavy goods vehicle.

He's 91 year old.

Has this chap got any kind of courtesy car cover?

Right. So the chances of him getting his ferry today are going to be slim.

We didn't think we were going to be able to get him on his ferry.

We didn't want to leave him stranded in the middle of West Yorkshire.

He's sort of, like, halfway between home, a bit closer to Hull.

So, you don't have any provisions at all

to be able to get him back home through his insurance?

Can you just bear with me 30 seconds while I speak to my colleague?

The courtesy car won't cover him to go to Holland, not even for a day.

And all they do is they take the car to a secure compound,

to the nearest one here,

then repair it and deliver it back to his home address.

They have no provisions

because they've got no insurance cover to take him home.

-Can you hear me all right, Bill?

-Yes.

-Can you hear me all right? Yep?

Right. What's happening,

your insurance company are going to come and get your car.

They're going to come and get your car.

But they're not going to give you another one today.

So it's going to be a case of you waiting for your car to be repaired

before you can get to Holland.

They won't repair that in a day.

No. It's going to be a good few days.

It gets worse, all right.

When they recover your car, they won't recover you.

Is there any way I can get a car to go up...to carry on with?

My suggestion...would have been

to take you maybe to Leeds train station

so you could get a train home.

But if you're wanting to maybe hire a car...

If you can get me a car, I'll pay for it.

-I'm not worried about that.

-Right, we could maybe...

-Have you got your driving licence with you?

-Yeah.

Yeah. We could maybe take him down to Enterprise or something.

If you... Your insurance won't pay for it,

but we can take you to a hire car place if you like?

-I'll do that.

-You want to do that?

-Yeah.

His determination, his courage,

his grit, really,

he wanted to get to Hull.

He had to get on that ferry.

There was no other way around it, really.

Doug and Dale are going beyond the call of duty

for this determined war veteran.

We'll see what we can sort out for you, all right.

But we're not making any promises.

The problem they have is finding a car-hire company

who'll rent a vehicle to a 91-year-old

to take overseas for five weeks,

and doing it in time to get Bill on his ferry to Holland.

Near Dewsbury, Acting Sergeant Gary Panther

and PC Mick Roffe have a more immediate problem.

They've been tailing a GTI at high speed for five minutes

and the driver is becoming increasingly reckless.

They know really what we do and how we're trained.

And they know the more they push it,

the sillier the risks they take, we won't follow.

Pursuit to get units to Leeds Road, please.

We are now approaching Leeds Road at Dewsbury.

Pursuit get local units into area, please,

as well, in case he does decamp. Is 99 lifting for this?

99 is the call sign for Air Support.

And they are catching up with the ground pursuit.

"7-0, back to correct. Safe to continue this time."

Pursuit, we are continuing. We are now on Haybeck Lane,

generally still towards Leeds Road, Dewsbury Road in Dewsbury.

Just approaching Leeds Road now. Stand by for direction.

We are continuing straight across Leeds Road.

Lights are green, it is safe to continue.

Overtaking vehicles the wrong side of the road.

Speed 70. Back to the correct.

Safe to continue at this time.

Get stinger units to Batley if we can, please.

We're generally towards Batley.

In his desperation to get away, the Golf driver clips another car.

And it's contact with another member of the public's vehicle.

As Gary and Mick slow down to avoid doing the same thing,

they lose the GTI.

To me, in my mind, immediately, I'm thinking as ground commander,

"This guy is going to stop at nothing to get away from us now."

And at that point, we backed, we backed off.

It is continuing. I think it is only minor damage.

We are generally towards Bradford Road still.

-Lost him, mate.

-Keep going. He won't have turned off at that speed.

Those very few seconds immediately after, you're thinking,

this is finished. They're going to abandon the car and run off

and we'll never find out who they were or what they've done.

He's up there! Spin it around.

Right, right into the estate, and we're on to Clutton Street.

We're on to Clutton Street into the estate

and it's a temporary loss at this time. Is 99 overhead at all?

Luckily, the helicopter arrived just in the nick of time.

I mean, just in the nick of time.

"Yeah, looks like a bailout coming up."

Yeah, 99, we've lost him near West Street,

Clutton Street off Soothill Lane.

It's an offside junction as you're travelling towards Batley.

He's in that estate somewhere.

Both the driver and the passenger flee from the Golf.

"Decamp from the, er...the black vehicle."

"Give me your location, please."

And there were a few seconds where there were very little said.

I think the helicopter were looking around for him.

It's not nicked, it's decamped off Soothill Lane somewhere.

Andy, are you with it at all?

What's that, Mick?

99, where's he gone? We're with t'car now. It's abandoned.

Near Grace Leather Lane.

"It's coming back out."

"And the Golf is straight ahead. The Golf is straight ahead."

The driver has gone to ground,

but Air Support is tracking the passenger.

"We've lost the driver, but there's someone on the right."

"He's just crossing 100 yards up in grey.

"Grey trousers, grey top."

And Gary and Mick are on to him.

He's either going to see the police car and run

or he's going to try and bluff it out.

This guy decided he was going to try and act completely innocent.

Come here.

All right, all right, all right, all right.

You're under arrest. Suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.

-Eh?

-Stand still. Don't mess about. Do not mess about!

Get someone to t'car, we've got t'passenger under arrest.

INDISTINCT RADIO

With the passenger under arrest, the hunt now turns to the driver,

who, despite Air Support and officers on the ground,

seems to have disappeared.

"From 99, Apologies for that. Lost driver. He crouched down somewhere."

"X-ray Tango 1-8, that's received."

West of Dewsbury, the M62 cuts through West Yorkshire.

As it rises up through the Pennine hills,

it becomes Britain's highest motorway.

This is motorway cop Martin Willis' territory.

That stretch of the motorway up there towards junction 22,

we call it Windy Hill. Aptly, aptly named.

It is prone to high winds, particularly crosswinds, as well.

You do, because of that, you do get large vehicles,

40, 44-tonne vehicles,

that are affected by the high winds.

And they can get blown, um... blown off on to the hard shoulder.

Martin's teamed up with PC Lindsey Pickles.

We've got another one here.

As they reach the highest point of the motorway,

they spot a car on the hard shoulder.

As we're coming along, we saw a chap

trying to change the offside wheel.

The wheel that's closest to lane one.

Knelt down on the edge of the hard shoulder

with his backside sticking out into lane one.

It's extremely dangerous doing that side

without anybody watching your back. OK?

What you should have done... I appreciate it's up on the jack now,

you should have got it as close to here as possible.

I've already done that.

-Sorry?

-I'm just...

It don't matter. You're bent over there,

all it needs is a lorry to come down on to the hard shoulder

or a car not watching what they're doing,

that's it, the end of you.

I'm just trying to protect you, save you from being killed. OK?

In the last ten years,

there have been over 70 people killed on Britain's hard shoulders.

And the dangers are only too real for Martin

and every officer in West Yorkshire.

It was certainly brought home in 2011

when one of our colleagues, PC Mark Goodlad,

was tragically killed on the hard shoulder,

again, helping a motorist, helping somebody who was, um...

who'd broken down, who, you know, needed help.

And it is one of the worst places you can work on.

The driver's wife and three small children

are oblivious to the danger.

And Martin has got to get them to safety as quickly as possible.

What we'll do now, we'll get them to stand behind here.

My colleague will wait there and I'll try and help you fix your tyre.

I thought, well, if I can get this tyre done, put on quickly,

we'll get them moved and then we've taken away the danger.

It's not a good thing to do, changing a wheel on the hard shoulder.

And even with someone as a lookout, it's still a scary thing to do.

A split second of not looking the right way

and not watching what you're doing

and that can be it, it's gone.

But as Martin risks his life replacing the punctured tyre,

he discovers a serious problem.

Where's the other nut?

-Where's...?

-I just bought it one month ago.

-You just bought it?

-Yeah.

-One month ago.

-Right.

What we're going to have to do is get this tyre on as best we can

and get them off the motorway.

It's not safe to continue with a wheel nut missing.

The driver claims that he bought the car

with the wheel nut already missing,

but there's an even bigger issue.

So they've got three kids, three children,

and no suitable child restraints.

Right. We've got a big problem here.

Your car's not safe because there's a wheel nut missing.

-Yeah.

-OK.

And you've got no proper child restraints for your children.

How old are your children?

One is nearly three, one is one and a half, and one is six.

They need to be in proper child restraints.

They're not tall enough, they're not old enough.

I was angry. Very angry.

You feel, being a parent yourself, those poor children,

they deserve better.

And, you think, well, why can't they look after them properly?

Why are they doing this? Why are they putting their family at risk?

Is it stupidity?

Off the motorway and out of harm's way,

Lindsey has some questions for the driver.

I take it my colleague has explained to you

the serious nature of what we're talking about,

the fact that the children are not in car seats.

Do you have some car seats available anywhere?

-At home.

-At home?

What's the reason you've not put your child seats in the car today?

-We totally forgot, to be honest.

-Right.

-I'm very sorry about that.

-Right.

I appreciate that, but I don't want you to be sorry to me.

I don't want to be dealing with an accident

that involves your children of a serious nature.

And when they're sat in a car like that,

they're going to be through the windscreen.

I know you would not be able to live with yourself

if anything happened to those children.

So I'm not going to lecture you any more.

The way we'll deal with it is by way of a fixed penalty ticket

because you're failing to have your children in a correct child seat.

-Can you let it go, darling, please?

-No.

-No, no, no.

-No.

-No chance.

-No.

The education message seemed wasted on him.

And again, that frustrates me.

Because I'm thinking, that message isn't getting home.

Rather than leave them stranded, the safest course of action

is to get everyone home as quickly and as safely as possible,

via a route that avoids the motorway.

Hello. This needs to go across here, OK?

Just in case.

It never ceases to amaze me that people still, still do it.

Sometimes we see them with four or five children in the back unrestrained.

But it's unbelievable. It really is.

I just hope he learns his lesson.

20 miles east along the M62 near Wakefield,

PCs Doug Lofthouse and Dale Anderson

are trying to get a stranded 91-year-old war hero

to a veterans' reunion in Holland.

Would you like to think if it were your dad, granddad

at the side of the road, would you like to think

we were trying to help him out? I suppose so.

Bottom line is, the guy's had a minor bump.

It's really important to him that he gets there,

more important than the car.

So we're going to get him a hire car

which will let him go to Holland,

which I'm not sure whether the companies will allow that.

Get all his things there and hopefully get him on his way.

Whether we'll do it or not remains to be seen.

I'd suggest we've probably got about an hour and a half,

hour and 45 minutes to get him back on the road

or he's going to miss the ferry crossing.

Bill's unroadworthy car

is packed full of supplies for his five-week trip

and Dale has called in a second police car to help move it all.

Do you hire cars out to take to Europe for five weeks?

The biggest problem we've got at the moment

is finding a hire car company

that's willing to, like, let somebody

who's going to walk in off the street today

take one of their cars to another country for five weeks.

So that's what Doug's trying to sort out.

Oh, right. So you don't do it for five weeks, then?

We're getting there.

Can you try and find me a telephone number, please, for Avis Rent A Car?

We've got all his belongings

and half of the local convenience store loaded up now.

He's certainly not going to go without

ready salted Walkers for the next five weeks.

Doug's had no luck finding a rental car for Bill over the phone

and time's running out.

So they decide to head to the nearest rental company

to try and sort something out in person.

Let's get you to this hire car company, then, Bill.

It was just...

a feeling about the entire, the entire meeting with Bill, really,

that it was something a little bit different.

And obviously, his...drive, for want of a better word,

to, to get to his destination was sort of limitless.

How long were you in the Paras?

-I was in 1944.

-Ah, right.

I was six years in the army, then, from then.

And I was in the T...been in the TA from then until six years ago.

-You were in the TA six years ago?

-Yeah.

Wow! How many jumps have you made in your lifetime?

About 60.

If they'll insure us now, we're going to do a jump this year.

DALE LAUGHS If what?

-Where?

-If they'll insure us.

-Do a jump?

-What, over in Holland?

-Yeah.

-A parachute jump. A parachute jump?

You're going to do a parachute jump if you can?

To this day, I still find it amazing.

I hope, one, that I live till I'm 90 something,

and, two, that I'm fit enough and well enough

to even think about doing a parachute jump.

Truly amazing.

Good on ya!

It's all good fun.

I think it's amazing.

Obviously, you've fought in World War II

and you're still out there parachuting.

There's nothing in it.

Bill might be able to get insurance to jump out of a plane,

but will a hire car company let him take a vehicle for five weeks

overseas in time to get his ferry?

It's going to be tight, but hopefully Bill will do it

without having to break any speed limits, eh?

The car's not nicked, is it?

-Is the car nicked?

-Stand with him, stand with him.

In an estate just off the M1 in Dewsbury,

Acting Sergeant Gary Panther and PC Mick Roffe

have caught the passenger of a car they've been pursuing.

But the driver has vanished.

It took a little bit of time for the dust to settle, if you like.

And he hadn't been immediately caught, the driver.

So we just asked the helicopter to say, "Look, go back.

"Where did you last see him?"

Because he's not disappeared down a manhole cover.

"From 99, within the flats, we have got an open door.

"We can't say that the driver went in there,

"but we have got an open door in the flats just off Broomsdale Road."

While Mick takes charge of the hunt for the driver,

Gary has found the Golf.

Car's been abandoned on Broomsdale Road.

Keys are still in the ignition.

I believe the helicopter have got a possible location for the other,

so other officers are off to that location at the moment.

I've just come to secure the vehicle

so no offenders can come up to it and drive off in it.

600 feet above them,

the cops are searching the area the driver was last seen in.

"Lost driver. He crouched down somewhere.

"We've just got thermal come online now."

But it's a warren,

and even their thermal-imaging camera can't detect anything.

"To that officer who is coming back towards the aircraft,

"it was the first buildings you checked, just to your rear now.

"The ones with the green door, then the ones with the red door.

"He disappeared around there somewhere.

"Your colleague's just checking those now."

Gary's keen to discover why the driver of the GTI

was so desperate to escape.

Strong links to drug supply,

so potentially, the occupants could have had some on them

or there could be some still in the vehicle.

So we'll be forced to search them and seize whatever's inside,

if, in fact, there is anything.

More officers are called to the scene to help with the hunt for the driver.

But they don't have an exact description of him.

And innocent passers-by are adding to the confusion.

All them bottles will need seizing.

All them bottles in there will need seizing.

Obviously, they've run off from the vehicle.

When they're interviewed, they might deny being in that vehicle.

So for us to get some evidence, DNA evidence from that,

whether it be a drinks bottle that's in there,

fingerprint evidence,

it could be a cigarette butt that's been left in the ashtray.

If we can seize those and it comes back with their DNA on,

it lends itself again to the fact that they have been in that vehicle.

An eyewitness comes forward with some information.

"X-ray Tango Sierra two, from a member of public,

"only two males were in this vehicle.

"The driver was an Asian male wearing a light-blue hooded top."

"He ran round towards the rear of those flats.

"That's where we last saw him."

Mick is determined to track his man down.

I'm like a dog with a bone, really. I'll not let anything go.

So I'm walking up towards a block of houses and the helicopter's saying,

we last saw him round the back of that house and he hasn't come out.

That's your first port of call. That was my first port of call.

He's not there, he's not there, he was last seen here,

he must be in here somewhere.

"Towards the outhouse."

Gary and another officer

discover why the driver was so keen to get away.

That's a drugs press. Drugs press, I think.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-Press there and there.

But there's no gear at all.

-Well...

-Just residue.

Looks like there's residue underneath it to me. Heroin residue.

It looked like heroin dust.

And inside the suitcase was a press,

which is used to obviously compact the heroin

into a solid block, as it were.

Which is how it often gets transported from the bigger dealers.

We looked at that and thought, this is a part of a bigger picture.

100 yards away, Mick's searching the last of the flats.

You can see the flat doors downstairs.

Checked them immediately. They're locked and secured.

I'm thinking, he's not in any of these.

As I walked upstairs, only until I got to the top step,

I turned and was confronted by him literally hiding in the corner.

And I can see him hiding.

Get some cops up here!

Keep out your pockets.

Drop your phone. Drop it!

Drop your phone now. Do as you're told!

In my eyes, at that moment in time, my life could have been in danger.

Because his hands were hidden, he could have had a weapon.

So I'm going to use whatever tools I have,

which, ultimately, are my mouth

and my personal protective equipment, to dominate that situation.

That guy needs to know that we're in charge, and don't try anything.

Right, you're locked up, pal, obviously.

You got some ID on you?

"Driver of the vehicle located in the flats."

"That's received. Thank you.

"All units, I believe we have both now."

He's now been arrested by my colleagues.

I'm just going to seize the relevant items

that are obvious to us at the time.

It will get recovered for forensic work.

And hopefully, we can link him to the vehicle if he denies it.

But I think we're quite adamant that it is the right driver.

The helicopter's followed him away

and he's been detained by officers close by,

so all in all, a good job so far.

That's 1-0 to us, innit?

I think they're just idiots.

I think they have no comprehension of what life's about.

They have no comprehension of the value of life.

They've not seen what I've seen, or my colleagues, for that matter.

And I think if they had, and if they'd lived it,

they wouldn't do it.

-Come on, let's get you sorted.

-OK.

In Wakefield, Doug and Dale have arrived at a car hire company

they hope will rent 91-year-old war veteran Bill a car

to go to Holland for a regimental reunion.

But they've got less than an hour to get him sorted,

or he'll miss his ferry to Holland.

Hello. Are we all right? You take yourself a seat, Bill.

We've rung through, obviously, the call centre,

and they've said you'll hire cars to let him go to the Continent,

because he's wanting to go to Holland.

-In our car?

-Yeah.

Yeah, my thoughts were, that due to his age,

which I know we shouldn't judge people on their age,

but due to his age, due to the fact that he'd had a collision,

the hire company would be a little bit reluctant,

shall we say, to lend him a car,

especially when I'd spoken to somebody over the phone

who said that we can only do it for four weeks.

-How long are you going for?

-It were going to be five.

Five weeks? That's fine.

-Is that fine?

-Yeah.

-Excellent.

-I'll sort something out. Bear with me.

-Cheers.

They'll let you take one for five weeks.

You can have a car for five weeks. So that's a bonus, isn't it?

Yeah. That's great.

Which one are you fancying - Jag, Mercedes?

Which car are you fancying? The Jaguar?

-I don't care what it is.

-The cheapest?

-I'll take yours.

-You can have it.

-They have got some nice motors.

-That's what I was thinking.

Just unload everything here then.

One major hurdle's been overcome, but the clock is ticking.

And once again, the cops busy themselves

transferring Bill's supply of crisps and snacks to his new car.

To make sure Bill's got the best chance of catching his ferry,

Dale jumps in the hire car

to direct the old war veteran back to the motorway, while Doug follows.

He's actually quite switched on, though, isn't he?

And other than his hearing, he's...

I'm saying that, he's stalled it.

No, no, no, press the clutch down. There we go.

As we were driving through the town centre,

there's all sorts of lane filters,

diversions, that kind of thing in the town centre,

and you could tell he wasn't used to the car

because it was juddering a bit.

No, no, no, no. Yeah, that arrow.

You might need to knock it into second. I think that will stall.

Give it some revs.

-You'll get used to it.

-Oh, yes.

He'll be all right once he gets familiar with the car.

We'll just get the rest of his belongings in the car

and we'll let him follow us on to the motorway.

And then we'll leave him to continue on his journey.

Do you think he'll get the ferry?

Yeah, I think he will.

Only just, but he will.

-Can I put this behind you?

-Put it anywhere.

-That can go behind you.

-You're bloody pals.

-All right?

-Much obliged, son.

It's been an absolute pleasure meeting you, sir. It really has.

Where could we have been if everybody, 70 years ago,

if everybody had turned round and said,

"I'll let somebody else fight that fight."

We could have been living in an entirely different world.

Thank you very much indeed.

No problem. You take care, sir.

He were ace.

If we can't do things for people who've given so much of themselves,

if we can't just...when the opportunity presents itself

just to help people get to where they want to be.

Er...it were very little, what we did for Bill,

but it made a difference to him.

The driver of the Ford Focus pleaded guilty to dangerous driving

and driving whilst disqualified.

He was given a 19-month prison sentence

and banned from driving for three years.

No action was taken against his passenger.

The driver of the Golf GTI pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

He received 12 weeks in prison

and was disqualified from driving for a year.

No drugs-related charges were brought against him

and his passenger wasn't charged with any offences.

And 91-year-old Bill caught his ferry and made his reunion.

He passed away in Holland in the company of good friends.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd