Right Time, Right Place Motorway Cops

Tango nine-one, he's hit two vehicles.

-Being a motorway cop is all about timing.

-He's lost it.

But getting where they're needed isn't always easy.

Could be over 30 minutes since the accident were reported to us.

There's no emergency services there yet.

Sometimes they're left picking up the pieces.

I was just driving along as normal and all of a sudden, bang!

We don't even know where he's come from.

-Other times, they strike it lucky.

-You came past a bit quick. We wanted to make sure everything were OK.

Is there owt else in the house?

-All this cos you pulled up at the side of the road.

-It's your bad day, mate. It's unlucky.

-It's all about being in the right place.

-Turn it off or I'll ram you!

-Just when they're needed most.

-What would have happened if we hadn't stopped?

-Tried to chop me up.

-You think they would've chopped you up?

-Yeah, I know they would've done.

If the luck's on your side and you put yourself in the right place at the right time

and you catch them, it just pays off. It is all worth it.

It's 10.15 on a busy Friday night

in Leeds city centre.

A call for help is coming through on the police radio.

Motorway cops Matt Hemingway and Aidy Brown are heading into the city when they get the message.

Officers pursuing a stolen Skoda are requesting urgent help

from cops trained in tactical pursuit and containment.

Tango nine-one, would you show us on this TPAC job, please?

Luckily, that's just what Matt and Aidy specialise in.

-Come left.

-And now they're just seconds away from the pursuit.

We're right behind it now.

As luck would have it, we weren't too far away. We want to get there and do what we're trained to do.

The driver has already tried to take out one police car.

'People will stop at nothing sometimes to get away.'

They may be desperate criminals behind the wheel of this stolen car.

Still on the ring road on to York Road, just passing the speed camera to the near side.

The stolen car is heading towards the busy city centre.

-If it gets there, a chase through the streets will become far more dangerous.

-Get out the way then!

-The cops already have a plan.

-There's one.

Our intentions there are to get two or three traffic cars involved

and cause the car to stop or force it to stop.

He's going off.

We're behind you, Kev.

'I get really angry towards the drivers, especially on a dangerous pursuit.

'It's part of my job. I have to try and catch you.'

And the way you're driving is putting me in danger.

As more units link up to join the chase...

..Matt and Aidy find themselves right behind the stolen red Skoda.

In the final stages of a TPAC, things happen in a split second.

-Another police car races in front.

-'Three-two, Astra, move over.'

And between them, they try to box in the stolen car.

But the driver escapes and keeps going.

Tango nine-one, there's contact with police vehicles. He's hit two vehicles.

-Stand by.

-He's lost it.

Go, go, go! SIRENS WAIL

Get on the floor! Now!

Idiot!

Stay down!

'The whole idea is to profit on the shock

'that's been caused by the collision that's ended it, really.'

I'm in shock, he's in shock. I need to react quicker than he is,

firstly to stop him driving away and secondly, to stop him running away.

Other one. Let go!

It was only once we had 'em both cuffed up and we're taking 'em back to the car

that you take a step back and think, "Hang on a minute."

You expect to be looking at a grown man, what you'd call your typical criminal,

but it's just a couple of fresh-faced kids who look like rabbits caught in the headlights.

While the cops get to grips with the kids in the car...

..60 miles away, another police unit are at work in another city.

Hull is one of the most deprived areas in the country.

Every city has its own character, really. It has its own kind of trend in criminality.

Hull, particularly, is all...

a lot of intravenous drug use,

heroin, etcetera, a lot more cannabis coming up.

Tonight, PCs Mick Roffe and Rob Jones are in the west of the city.

They belong to a specialist cross-border unit, policing Yorkshire and the Humber.

We're called the Regional Road Crime Team which was set up a few years ago

with a view to tackling more serious criminals or the higher level of criminality.

I can't imagine a better job than doing what I do right now.

I'm given the tools, the authority and the training to do it.

So...game on.

A passing car gets their attention.

He comes up quite quickly behind us and I thought...

"We'll just have a quick look." We weren't particularly busy. "Why not?"

Back office, three-six. A vehicle check, please, on Arthur Street.

'Give the details.'

Thank you. November Alpha, five, three, Bravo Papa Oscar.

A Focus.

Hey, buddy. Get back in your car. You're all right.

-Have you got your driving licence?

-Not on me, no.

-What have you stopped here for? Visiting friends or something?

-No, I live there.

-OK.

'He gave quite short answers when I was speaking to him. He wasn't very happy about us being there.'

He was generally quite nervous. "Twitchy" is the best word to describe him.

He's got previous, Rob, for burglary, assault, drugs.

-Craig, is there owt in t'car there shouldn't be?

-No.

Right. I've been told that you've some previous involvement in drugs.

-Yeah, years ago.

-How many years is "years"?

-About 12 years ago. 2001.

-OK.

I suspected there was something more to it. It was a question of working out what that was.

Put your interior light on, please, pal.

-Sorry?

-Put your interior light on. Cheers, pal.

Because of how he was behaving, I wanted to dig a bit deeper.

Craig, I'll have a quick look in the car and make sure there's nothing there shouldn't be or on you.

You and the vehicle will be searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

-Nothing sharp on you, is there?

-No.

I'm not saying you're injecting owt, but you might be a carpenter or summat.

-Are you working at the minute?

-No, I'm unemployed.

-I've just been to the cash machine to get my giro out.

-Just keep your hands out your pockets.

That's just an empty bag.

No.

I've searched him and we've found... admittedly, a tiny amount of cannabis in his pockets.

-Because of that bag, I'm going to make sure there's nothing on you there shouldn't be.

-OK.

'As soon as we found that small amount of cannabis, that was our cue, that was our "in".'

Almost like the lights had turned on. "Great, now we've got some drugs, we can get into this guy."

Yes, mate, come and assist if you don't mind.

Rob calls for back-up while Mick continues to search the car.

There's a lot of sweet wrappers.

No.

Even though they find nothing else,

the man's nervous behaviour has left the cops believing there may be more to all this.

-There's absolute zero in it. It's just an empty bag.

-It's just them tiny bits that we need to sort out.

I appreciate it's tiny bits.

The little bit of cannabis we found and the fact we were so close to his home address made me think,

"This lad's nervous because there's something in his house he doesn't want us to find."

Is it all right if we come and sit in yours while we do t'paperwork?

That excuse was just rubbish and designed to keep us out of his house

which makes me want to go in his house all the more.

-Is there summat in t'house?

-No.

You're not growing cannabis plants in there or owt daft like that, no?

-We need some ID as well.

-I've just given you my bank card.

-I know, but some photo ID if it's in the house.

-OK.

-Let's go and have a look in the house.

Mick and Rob already have enough evidence to caution him for possession

and if they can persuade him to let them into his house,

they believe they may find something more.

Back in Leeds, PCs Matt Hemingway and Aidy Brown are still dealing

with the two lads stopped in a stolen car just outside the city centre.

Yeah, we got involved in this...

We are damaged - front, side and rear.

We've got two 112s.

The 80-mile-an-hour chase has left the stolen car and three police cars

with thousands of pounds' worth of damage, but at least the teenage lads seem OK.

-You're all right? You're not injured?

-Just a bit shaken up.

-Scary business, innit?

-I don't even know why...

-BLEEP

-It soon unfolds without you knowing about it.

He's just driving the way he's seen

on TV or films or computer games or whatever.

But when it's real life, there are consequences

and I think the whole incident shocked him.

He must have been scared out of his wits.

The teenager is just 16 - too young to drive and too young to drink,

but he still needs to be breathalysed.

That'll do. Thank you.

He blows zero, but it's not the end of his problems.

I'll swap his cuffs over. Go on then, mate. Just hop out.

It's a 61-plate Skoda. It's somebody's pride and joy that's been stolen.

He's taken that decision to drive off and cause havoc and mayhem,

so he's going to have a night in t'poky for his troubles

and reflect on what's happened.

Both the teenage boys will be taken in for questioning.

-Yeah, you're all right there, aren't you?

-Yeah.

It's not just the teenagers who are in trouble.

Matt and Aidy will have to justify the damage to their car.

You had a right good go at 'em.

Yeah, I know. I tried to stop 'em at t'barriers.

But then obviously, you came along.

The sergeant's not going to be happy.

'The damage to police cars alone, there was a bill for over £20,000.'

That's not to mention the car is stolen from somebody, that is written off. It's a big incident.

When the cops are involved in a collision,

it's not just the arrested who face some difficult questions.

-Were you driving, Aidy?

-Yeah.

-Are you injured?

-No.

-Have you been breath-tested?

-No.

All the police drivers involved in the pursuit have to provide a breath test.

Thank you.

I don't think I could've done anything different.

If I'd stayed away and not wanted him to make contact with me,

he'd have got away and the pursuit would've gone on and on and on.

The stolen Skoda is taken away,

but Matt and Aidy have the challenge of getting their own car back to base.

Yeah, I'm going to try and limp it back.

All in a day's work.

Back in Hull, PCs Rob Jones and Mick Roffe have persuaded the man found with a small amount of cannabis

to take them to his house.

And they're hoping to find out why he was reluctant to let them in.

As soon as we walked through the front door, as I looked to the left,

there's a large amount of cannabis on the table.

Have you given us the right address...

When you arrest him and you say, "We're going to look around the rest of the house now,"

and he says, "I'd prefer you didn't," you know something else is in it.

Now the man has been arrested, Mick and Rob have the power to search his house,

but before they do, they want some answers.

Sit down. Don't get yourself upset.

I'm walking up the stairs and already you're thinking inside,

"What am I going to get up here? He's made an admission.

"This is why I come to work. This is why I'm here to tackle these kind of people."

Here we go.

You're excited. Is it behind this door? Is it behind this door?

-LAUGHTER

-Happy days!

As you unzip it, the smell hits you, the light from the lamps hits you, the heat hits you

and you think, "Great result. Absolutely great result!"

It's a massive haul. I don't think you'd get many more than 70, 80 plants in a small terraced house,

so he's actually done quite well to squeeze as many in as he has.

-I'd call that a result, pal, wouldn't you?

-I would.

If the moment's right and the luck's on your side

and you put yourself in the right place at the right time, it pays off. It is all worth it.

More cops are brought in to search the house and as they discover more cannabis plants,

they suspect they may have stumbled on to something bigger than they first thought.

48 miles away on the A1 north of Pontefract, PC Debbie Collinson is working alone.

When you're single-crewed, you've got to think for yourself.

You're operating your radio, you're driving, there's lots going on.

You have to be on the ball and be thinking a bit more.

We've had a report come in of an RTC on the A1 southbound.

There's reports of some injuries. How serious they are, at this moment in time, I don't know.

The accident is at the start of the unlit motorway section of the A1.

There's a danger that if any cars are blocking the lanes, they'll cause further accidents.

It might be that we have to put a lane one closure on.

When you get to an incident, you've got a little check list in your head

and you're ticking the boxes as you're going along.

-Are you all right?

-Yeah, fine. I've just spoken with the drivers.

-There's an elderly gent. He's in a bit of shock.

-Right.

-The female passenger from one vehicle has had a bit of whiplash.

-Right.

The paramedics are checking her over.

One car appears to have rammed the back of the other.

Fortunately, they're both safely off the carriageway.

-Are you a driver?

-No.

-A passenger?

-A passenger.

A passenger in which vehicle?

-In the Renault?

-Yeah.

-Right, no worries.

-Are you a driver of...?

-There were four people in that car. I was driving this car.

-Right.

What's happened? Did you...?

I don't know. All of a sudden, the car was in front of me.

-Right.

-He came straight up the back of us, spun us round...

-And... We don't even know where he's come from.

-Right.

You know roughly what's happened, but you sometimes don't know why

and you'll never know why because one driver will give one account

and the other driver will give you a completely different story.

Everyone has a different version of events,

so it's up to Debbie to piece together the evidence.

Whatever's happened, it appears that the front of the BMW has collided with the rear of the Scenic.

There is a little bit of luck on the side that they have ended up off the carriageway.

They all have been very, very lucky.

If I were them, I'd put some Lottery numbers on.

At that location where it's pitch-black, if those vehicles had been in a live lane,

I've got no doubt that there would have been another collision of some more vehicles

and we could have been dealing with fatalities.

We were just driving along as normal.

And all of a sudden, bang!

Bang! And then he just spun our...

The car behind, he's just come from nowhere.

And we were in the slow lane. I just couldn't believe what he'd done.

It's becoming clear no-one is to blame.

But what is certain is that they all had a narrow escape.

My brother-in-law stopped it from going up the embankment somehow.

If we had, I was frightened in case we turned over and that would've been a lot worse.

We're lucky there.

Very lucky.

Absolutely horrible.

While her colleague gets the BMW driver's side of the story,

Debbie wants to talk to the family who were travelling in the car that was hit.

Only me! Are you all right? Can I come in?

-Come in.

-By all means.

-Hello.

Right, who was the driver?

They're still getting to grips with what's going on,

so when I started chatting to them and we had a little bit of banter...

-Do you want us to take him away?

-LAUGHTER

I think it sometimes helps people

because it distracts them from what's happened.

Albert, the driver of the Renault, is uninjured, but badly shaken.

Just out of the blue. I wasn't expecting it. No screech of brakes, nothing. Just a big bang.

'Bless him, he were in such shock. He'd just been tootling along on the motorway.'

The next thing you know, bang, and he ends up off the carriageway.

I've just seen the headlights. They're coming the wrong way.

And I thought, "We've had it," you know?

Luckily, there's somebody up there looking after us.

Albert's passed a breath test,

but Debbie checks with her colleague to see if the BMW driver may have been drinking.

You don't know if the Renault driver has braked suddenly and the other car's gone into the back of him

or the BMW driver's not been concentrating or he's fallen asleep.

Without independent witnesses or CCTV, it is very difficult to know what's happened.

Everyone is free to leave. Albert and Shirley ride in the ambulance

while Debbie takes the rest of the family to meet them at a nearby service station.

I want a cup of tea.

I just want to relax.

You got to ride in the police car. Albert will be jealous.

Oh, Albert will. Oh, aye, he'll be going mad now.

'It's all about their welfare and their safety.

'We've got a duty of care to all these people. They've been involved in an accident.

'We can't just leave them at the side of the motorway.'

-Thank you very much for your help. That was smashing.

-You take care.

Whilst they're at the side of the motorway and everything's whizzing past 'em, it's got bad memories.

As soon as you take 'em away and bring 'em here,

it's much better for them.

Obviously, Shirley wanted to get a cup of tea. But who can blame her?

A cup of tea can be a great healer with things like this, so, yeah...

In Hull, Mick and Rob are still searching the house of the man

who used one of his bedrooms as a cannabis farm.

While his house is being turned upside down, he has decided to come clean about his drug habit.

I started it when I was 15. By the time I was 17, I was smoking it all day, every day.

Without it, I couldn't function or speak to people.

You're smoking loads, not really feeling the effects of it.

So I started growing it. I can't afford to buy it at the price it is these days.

But the cost of running a cannabis grow like this doesn't come cheap.

They sometimes bypass around the meter with wiring, so it doesn't read a large amount of electricity.

-I'm not being disrespectful, mate, but do you pay for the electric for the plants?

-Yeah.

-Right.

-What's the 'leccy bill like, mate?

-Expensive.

-I bet it is!

The man's claim to grow his own cannabis to save money doesn't seem to add up.

The recession's hit the country as a whole and people are turning to other ways of extra income.

Some people are doing other things, second jobs, that kind of thing.

This guy's second job is cannabis.

-You reckon there's 50 upstairs?

-Em...

Yeah.

But the man claims he doesn't sell it. He smokes everything he produces himself.

That's like an ounce of cannabis every two days. If I don't get it, I go mad on the cigs.

I smoke loads of cigs to keep me steady. Just to keep feeling normal.

'Those plants will make thousands and thousands and thousands of spliffs.'

It would take him years, no matter how hard he tries, to smoke the amount of cannabis they'd produce.

There is no way on God's green Earth that he is simply growing cannabis for himself.

The man's cannabis farm will be shut down and all the plants removed and destroyed.

He now faces serious drugs charges back at the station,

but before being taken into custody, he has one last request.

Can you switch the plug off as you leave to save the 'leccy? The bill's through the roof.

It's 5am, at the end of a long nightshift for motorway cops Andy Bell and Pete Schofield.

They're heading back to base in Wakefield when a final call comes in.

We've got a report of an ongoing burglary on the Lupset Estate in Wakefield, just round the corner.

We have a report of youths going up and down the driveway, emptying the garage.

Is this it? Number five?

'If we can catch them in the act, then it's fantastic. We've got them there and then'

and they've not got much excuse.

It's only been a few minutes since the burglary was reported.

We've got a confirmed break here. The side door. Stand by.

-Have you seen them leg it?

-Yes, one over the back fence and one's gone down the road.

Two young men have been seen leaving the garden.

One blue hoodie towards Townley Road and one over the rear fence.

Out of sight. Over.

Luckily, both Andy and Pete know this area well.

Sorry.

Without a bit of local knowledge, you're on a hiding to nothing on an estate like Lupset.

The kids who live there know it like the back of their hand.

He's going to come over the backs.

He is. He's going to come out here somewhere.

'They all know the rat runs, the back alleys.'

They'll know gardens they can go over that get them out in certain areas where they can hide or get away.

-I'd head straight down and onto the playing field.

-To the playing field.

Then Andy spots someone.

-Who's that? Who's that?

-There.

He's dropped it. Go!

As Andy chases the man up the alley, Pete moves to head him off.

9-0, can I come in?

We've got runners. They've dropped a lot of gear.

Pete, he's gone out the rear.

Round to your right it'll be. 'You come up against kids'

who are like Billy Whizz. They're off. You see them one minute

and by the time you've gone round the corner, they've disappeared.

He's garden hopping in here.

But despite the age difference, Andy still fancies his chances.

When you see someone running, you give yourself a fairly good chance of catching them if you keep fit.

As Pete tries to keep up, he spots a second suspected burglar...

Round here, this one.

..who is stopped and searched.

Am I on? Yeah, man, I'm on TV!

Now with one man still on the run and Andy hot on his tail, Pete directs his colleagues to help.

I put my mate out. He's gone behind number two. They've dropped gear.

One came across here, but they were coming from a different direction from where the house were.

'The confusing bit was'

it was as if he'd burgled the garage and was running back with the stuff.

They've come from this direction carrying this old TV and a load of booze.

It's probably come from that garage.

But they've come round there and come on here.

Suddenly Pete gets a message on his earpiece.

It's about the man Andy's been chasing.

They've got him. I think he's on here.

Yeah, they've got him.

I won't say I've heard every excuse or every reason for people being out at the dead of night

carrying stuff that quite clearly has been nicked,

but you get quite a good idea. The public would think, "Hang on..."

Ha ha ha.

He's the one that were running that's ditched all the gear. He ran straight across in front of us.

-Where's your other shoe gone?

-I don't know. Gone walkies.

I ain't done nowt wrong.

But the cops are convinced they've got their man.

I've been a victim of a couple of burglaries. It's not nice, not nice at all.

And...you want these kids catching and you want them dealing with.

The man is full of excuses, even when it comes to his balaclava.

That's not very good, is it? You've got it on back to front.

-It's my neckwarmer.

-Is it?

-Does it go over your face as well?

-No, it's for round my neck.

-Sit down.

-Did you see it over my face? No. It was round my neck.

There is an element of luck to it, but if you look in the right places

sometimes, at least a few times, you pop up in the right place at the right time. And that's good.

With two suspected burglars under arrest, it's been a good night for Pete and Andy.

My knees are knocking now! I can't believe I was asleep five minutes ago!

As the new day dawns across the county,

thousands of commuters take to the roads.

In the next 24 hours, more than 60,000 vehicles will travel on the A1 between Doncaster and Pontefract.

The A1, we talk about it as a motorway,

but it's a long, long stretch of dual carriageway and one of the main arterial routes from north to south.

An awful lot of people use it daily.

PCs Debbie Collinson and Matt Hemingway leave their Wakefield base to start their 10-hour day shift.

I like to drive!

If I had a choice, I'd be driving.

I didn't join Traffic to be a passenger in a car.

This morning they're answering a call to an accident ten miles south of Pontefract.

Eight o'clock, Monday morning. It's a busy time of day.

If there are any blocks in the carriageway, it could cause quite a few problems for people.

The rush hour traffic could also cause problems for the cops.

Every second that we're taking to get there, more cars build up.

If it takes us so long to get there, there can be massive tailbacks even before we arrive at the scene.

Even with blues and twos, they struggle to be noticed by other drivers.

It's a problem you get responding to a job on motorways.

People are not always looking behind.

I've seen it now, I think. 'You're behind somebody'

with your blue lights and sirens, flashing like a Christmas tree, and people aren't moving out your way.

Use your mirrors!

'Just a further update from Highways. Not sure if it's south or west Yorkshire.'

-The accident is on the opposite carriageway.

-See here? Look.

And it's already causing huge delays.

We've just passed it now. It looks like both carriageways are blocked. There's quite a tailback.

-'Is there an ambulance on the scene?'

-We couldn't see it.

-There's an ambulance responder following us.

Problem we've got now is we have to come back through all that traffic.

This could be fun(!)

It's just two lanes, is this part of the A1.

And the hard shoulder is intermittent.

I think the middle.

It's just better in the middle. You've got a bit more to play with.

With no hard shoulder and traffic at a standstill, it's now down to Debbie and Matt to force a route

for all the emergency vehicles.

It's like the parting of the Red Sea.

But the clock is ticking.

HORN BLARES

It could be over 30 minutes now since the accident were reported to us and there's no emergency services there.

No, I can see carnage.

Summat's smashed up there.

Finally, Matt and Debbie push their way through.

'There were cars everywhere with bumps and scrapes,

'wheels missing. That's the first thing you notice as you roll up.'

"Wow. What's happened here?"

'Ey up! Are you all right? Is everybody OK?

What have we got, lads? Where are you from?

The white one? Everyone OK? Anybody injured?

No one's been hurt, but one driver's in shock

-and three vans and a car have been involved in the accident.

-'Everybody was all right,

'so we could move on from that, but there's a different pressure - it's a busy motorway.'

We're thinking, "We need to get this open as soon as possible."

With the A1 blocked and traffic rapidly building up behind them,

Matt and Debbie have to figure out how to clear the road fast.

30 miles north-west, just off the M62, lies Bradford.

Like all big cities, it has its share of problems.

There's drugs, prostitution

and there's violence, like any city.

In the west of the city, officers Andy Barron and Lindsey Pickles are responding to a report

of a group of men seen fighting with baseball bats on a suburban street.

I got the inclination he was trying to tell us something with a flash.

I started really looking at everybody in the area, all the people, what were they doing.

There's no sign of a fight, but a witness points to a silver Audi about to take off.

-This car now.

-Lindsey, get back in the car. It's this one coming out.

This one here. Go, go! They're going to go back off.

-The Audi is accelerating away behind them.

-They're making off.

RADIO: '5-0. Vehicle's making off.'

There's an old lady.

-We're coming to it.

-Luckily, another motorway cop, Martin Willis, is on patrol in the area

and joins the chase.

'The car's making off from us and we're turning round.'

He hears the description of the car and sees it coming towards him. He got directly behind it.

Lindsey loses the Audi, but then spots Martin's unmarked car as it turns into a housing estate.

Tango...five, we're behind you. We'll take commentary.

Where's it gone?

As they turn into a cul-de-sac, the Audi is cornered.

-'Vehicle stopped.'

-Turn it off or we'll ram you!

-Turn it off!

-'The vehicle had come to a stop.'

We didn't have any anticipation of the gravity of it.

-Hiya.

-We're on Middlebrook Drive. Middlebrook Close.

-I'm going to cuff you while we search you.

-No problem.

-If there's no problem, we'll take them off.

-You've nicked what tools?

-Come and have a seat in the back of our car.

-Look what's in it!

-'We'd no idea why it had made off.'

We knew there were multiple people inside it. Didn't know the threat.

Just have a seat in there. Have a seat.

The priority is to be very assertive and get control very, very quickly.

5-1, have you got a divisional unit to join us?

-Have you got anything on you?

-No.

Four men are in the car, one is covered in blood.

- Right, OK. - 'Romeo Tango...'

Males with baseball bats, fighting.

The cops don't yet know what's been going on, but the driver is left alone in Lindsey's car.

Hello?

And while their backs are turned, he answers a call.

BLEEP, man.

Outside, Andy's talking to the man covered in blood, trying to find out what's happened.

-You have a seat back in, please.

-No, I'll sit on the grass or summat.

-I'll sit here.

-Fine.

-What's your name, fella?

-'I had the perception they'd had an argument and they've taken'

a quick chase to try to avoid us. You keep an open mind. It's dangerous to become complacent.

Anything can happen and quite often does.

Right, tell me what's gone on.

I seen the car before they seen me. I put my tool bag in someone's garden and I actually rang the police.

Then, literally two minutes ago, well, five, they started beating me up.

One of them took the spanner thing out of my toolbox,

my... I can't think, man. ..my basin spanner, started whacking me with it.

One of them started biting me, one started pulling my balls.

When he was whacking me with that basin spanner, he was saying, "Get in the car."

-When you say someone was whacking you, who?

-The driver were punching me in the face.

-This driver?

The report of men fighting in a street is turning out to be just half the story.

Until the cops find out what's happened, they rely on witness accounts to build a picture.

RADIO: 'In all the confusion and all the things going in the log,

'we had a further call from somebody stating males getting bundled into a silver Audi.'

-How did you end up in this car?

-Three of them threw me in the car. This one on that side,

-he'd had my basin spanner, saying, "If you move, I'll hit you with it."

-So they abducted you?

-Yeah.

-Right.

He went very quickly

from being a suspect in a vehicle making off to the victim of a serious crime.

Thank you.

Yeah, they're saying that... By the sound of it this lad's been bundled into the car.

It looks like the cops arrived just at the right moment.

In seven years I've been an officer, I've never come across that gravity of kidnapping or any kidnapping.

'I really am glad we were there at the time. If we took a wrong turn,'

we wouldn't have been behind the vehicle and they'd have done what they intended.

While the cops continue to unravel exactly what's happened in Bradford,

back on the A1, south of Pontefract,

PCs Debbie Collinson and Matt Hemingway race to clear the car and three vans off the dual carriageway.

More than 6,000 vehicles use this stretch of road every hour

and the blockage is threatening to cause gridlock as far as Doncaster, eight miles away.

That road is blocked and people come off at the previous junction

and try to find alternative routes around the accident, which causes traffic chaos off the network.

Every minute the road remains shut, up to 30 vehicles join the jam,

adding two miles to the growing tailback every 15 minutes.

You're all right, mate. Don't worry about the wing mirror.

'People late for work,'

late for appointments, job interviews and people missing trains, planes,

all this happens just from a couple of cars bumping into each other.

Even clearing one lane would make a massive difference, but that's easier said than done.

We might be able to shove it. Give it a try shoving it first.

We're trying to get the vehicles out the way to get at least one carriageway opened up.

Can we spin it over and get it off separate from this?

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

They're running out of time and plunder the damaged vehicles for equipment to remove them.

-Is anybody the driver of this? Do you know where your towing eye is?

-Sorry?

-Towing eye.

Er, no.

Have you found it, Aidy? You've not found it there?

We're just trying to find the hooking point. This chap whose van it is,

the towing eye is in the back. Can't get the back doors open.

So we're just trying to secure it as best we can from the underneath of the car

and then we'll be able to pull it out the way and then move the other two.

OK.

As soon as you establish nobody's injured, it's getting everything cleared as quick as you can.

That's why everybody mucks in.

We managed to do that fairly quickly considering there were five vehicles all sandwiched together

and just opened one carriageway up, so we can try to clear this tailback now

and get people onwards on their journeys.

It's been almost 40 minutes since this accident blocked the A1.

This lane is open!

No one's to blame, but it's caused huge disruption.

As soon as the cars in front of you start moving, it's such a relief, having been there myself.

You don't know what's happening, nothing's going anywhere. We try to move things very quickly.

Come on, we're waiting for you to go!

All right, chill out!

With the A1 open again, Matt and Debbie can finally relax.

Can you imagine seeing that when you're screeching down the motorway?!

"Prepare to meet your god"?! A big pile-up. "Prepare to meet your god"!

Just off the M606, in a quiet residential street in Bradford,

Lindsey and Andy are questioning the driver and passengers of an Audi.

We've got three occupants of this vehicle under arrest on suspicion of abduction.

There's also a gentleman alleging that they bundled him in

and he is injured. We've got an ambulance en route.

In the back of Lindsey's patrol car,

the driver of the Audi is getting increasingly agitated.

BLEEP

When you say you know him or know of him, is there more history behind this?

-Or were they just attacking you for your toolbox?

-No. My mate robbed them the other week.

-Right. That's what it's all about.

-He thinks it's me.

-I'm with you.

As two of the men are taken into custody, the Audi driver gets back on the phone.

-But this time Lindsey's noticed he's up to something.

-Hiya.

-Am I getting arrested or summat?

-Just give us your phone, fella.

-My phone?

-Yeah.

-Got anything you shouldn't have?

-No.

-Stand and turn and face the car.

As he's searched, he's still got plenty to say to his victim.

Muppet!

You got a problem? Look here. Faggot.

Shut up. You're not impressing anybody, are you? Just making yourself look a clown.

Faggot!

'What do you think would have happened if we hadn't stopped here?'

By the look of that crackhead, he'd have tried to chop me up.

-You think they'd have chopped you up?

-I know they would have done.

They were going to kill him by whatever means and dispose of him.

That's his perception of it.

-Play the hard man all you want, but you don't worry us.

-I'm not being the hard man.

My mate's robbed him, apparently, for a bag of weed or summat.

You know what pride's like. When somebody's ruined your pride, you've got to build it up.

'The guy bundled into the car feared for his life.'

Absolutely feared for his life.

And the driver and the other two had absolutely no concerns

as to what they'd done at all.

-He's certainly hit him with his tools or weapons. We think its tools.

-My blue basin wrench.

-And where's that at the moment? Was it in the back of the car with you?

-I don't know.

-- A what? - A basin wrench.

-A wrench.

Like what you use to tighten taps.

The cops have the victim's account of what happened, but they need to find hard evidence to build a case.

Once we've got everybody where they need to be, we'll go back to that garden and do a search.

-It's there.

-Have we got it? Right.

-I'll leave it in situ.

-We'll get it photographed by SOCO.

I'll leave it there. It needs a good search does this car.

'Everything he tells me'

I can't just take as truth. I have to verify, make sure it's credible.

Just photographing things in the car that show there were a struggle.

There's footprints where there shouldn't be footprints. Things like this here.

His fear was he'd get abducted and chopped up. The driver was in possession of a Stanley knife.

He needs to be spoken to about that.

'His fears of being cut'

were quite founded, really, when you see the Stanley knife in the front of the door

and how agitated the driver was. He was angry.

I don't think he was just angry with being caught.

I think he intended to harm the rear seat passenger, definitely.

Although he's been rescued by the cops, there's still the danger of reprisals,

but to secure a conviction Andy and Lindsey must persuade him to help the investigation.

It's 1pm and on the M1 south of Wakefield

motorway cops Phil Stonebanks and Ray Terry are racing to join colleagues chasing a stolen truck.

24 hours a day, there's always a vehicle being stolen somewhere.

There's as much a market for trucks and plant equipment as stolen cars.

7-0, we're just approaching Junction 40.

About a minute or so behind.

'Nine times out of ten,'

stolen vehicles are broadcast and never seen again. They disappear.

For someone to sight a stolen vehicle is a bit of a rarity.

'..65 miles an hour.

'As soon as we've got this other unit we will attempt to stop the vehicle.'

Our other unit's directly behind him now. They've not tried to stop it. It's travelling at normal speed.

They're waiting for us before they attempt to stop it.

We've been asked to wait until the helicopter is overhead as well.

Phil and Ray are just minutes away when more information comes in from the lead patrol car.

Check this second one here.

Yeah, 7-1, that's us. We're just coming up.

With the target truck in sight, the police are ready to strike,

but stopping a truck of this size isn't easy.

A 7.5-tonne tipper truck can do a lot of damage. And if he decides he's not going to stop,

we're potentially looking at being seriously injured.

They've called in air support to help.

It lifted 30 seconds ago so it shouldn't take much longer. Once he's overhead, we'll try it.

With the helicopter on its way, Phil runs a check on the truck they've just overtaken.

'S&M Paving in Rotherham.

'MOT is current and we have no reports.'

Yeah, received. There is livery to that effect.

The other truck checks out, so Phil can focus on the one ahead.

-Can you tell us where the stolen vehicle was stolen from, please?

-'It was stolen in Mexborough.'

Everything is now in place and the cops co-ordinate a plan to stop the truck.

'7-0 to 7-1. We're going to try for a stop here while we've got the opportunity.'

Yes, yes. You've got a slip road coming in from your left-hand side.

7-1, we've got a nearside indication. The vehicle's stopping.

Yeah.

Let's go and have a word.

Just stick these on for the moment, mate. All right?

Right, come and have a seat in the car and we'll get it sorted out.

'Everything went fine. We made no attempt until we had sufficient units. South Yorkshire were aware,

'so they had units up ahead.'

We had a vehicle behind us doing a block, helicopter above as well.

So had it not gone to plan, we had all the bases covered that way.

As it turns out, when we put the blue lights on, the vehicle pulled over and everyone was compliant about it.

Are you known to the police? Ever been arrested?

Right.

Before taking the prisoners into custody, Phil makes one last call to the control room.

We'd got one in the back of our car. We did more checks to find out how the vehicle was stolen.

'The driver of this vehicle states that it was reported stolen in error.

'One of the people who worked for the company had taken it home.'

The owner of the vehicle had turned up at work one morning and noticed the vehicle was missing

and assumed it had been stolen. Obviously, unbeknown to him, one of the employees had taken it home.

-You get that?

-What?

-Just passing it out saying it was reported stolen in error.

'I'm sure there was a huge sense of relief, certainly with the lad in the back of our car.'

When he realised he wasn't getting arrested, he was a happy bunny.

-Shall we keep him for good measure?

-Take him with you, mate!

-Do you want him? Are you sure?

We had to let him go.

-Thank you.

-Have a good day. Thank you.

We do get vehicles that are reported stolen and sometimes they don't get cancelled on the computer

so we do get some false alarms.

They're quite happy. It's something to tell their mates in the pub.

Back in west Bradford, a police van arrives to take the Audi driver into custody.

Despite his situation, he's as cocky as ever.

Open the door.

-Can I get a drink, please? I'm really, really thirsty.

-We don't have drinks on us here.

Go buy me some from the shop, then. I'll pay you.

-Do you want some details? He's 112 at 1605.

-What's the offence?

Abduction.

-One second.

-And possession of an offensive weapon.

The driver's taken into custody, but not before he's committed yet another offence.

-And the reason you've spat...? Criminal damage.

-I needed a drink.

-I couldn't swallow.

-You're disgusting.

-Oh(!)

'He clearly has no care or consideration for anyone'

in what he was about to do and that showed in the back of the police car.

No respect whatsoever. He didn't care at all.

-You're also under arrest on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

-An offensive weapon?!

-Yeah.

Eh?

With the suspects off the scene, Andy can concentrate on winning the trust of the victim.

-It sounds like you've had a lucky escape.

-Yeah, I'm telling you.

Trouble seems to follow me around.

'We quite often find victims of violence'

reluctant to help because they have a mistrust of the police.

They have some sort of feeling

that we're not there to help them, that we won't protect them, and if they talk to us, it makes it worse,

the suspects may come after them again.

-Can you ring that number and tell my girlfriend I've gone to hospital?

-I will.

The victim's statement is crucial so Andy must make sure he'll help the cops.

Please promise me that you will not change your mind about co-operating.

Give us a statement. Any intel you can give us. You can do it anonymously.

But we need to take people like this out the picture. They're going to kill somebody. It could've been you.

If you don't co-operate with us, they're walking.

'It wasn't a random attack'

for somebody's mobile phone. He was targeted.

It's just a lot of luck that we happened to be in the right place at the right time

to put a stop to it.

The men in the Audi all pleaded guilty.

The driver was given a 27-month prison sentence for abduction and assault,

while his two passengers were each sentenced to 16 months in prison for abduction.

No further action was taken in relation to the crash between the BMW and the Renault.

The man who turned his house into a cannabis farm pleaded guilty to possession and production of it

with intent to supply. He was given a two-year suspended sentence.

Go!

And the lad caught after a foot chase through a Wakefield housing estate

pleaded guilty to burglary. He was sentenced to a year's youth detention and training order.

No action was taken against the second suspected burglar.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd