Stolen van recovered after police used a stinger to end Walesby pursuit

The Ford Transit Tipper van was stolen from Main Street, Walesby, at around 10.20pm on Friday (May 14) and police quickly arrived to investigate.

Around an hour later, the van was spotted by eagle-eyed officers near Blythe and driven towards Rossington.

Police moved to stop the vehicle safely and a pursuit followed, with the van allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road.

Operational support officers and the neighbourhood policing team used a stinger device to bring the van to a stop. The driver fled on foot.

A police dog located and apprehended a 37-year-old man who was subsequently arrested on suspicion of failing to stop, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified in connection with the case. He was taken to hospital for minor injuries.

Nottinghamshire Police Detective Superintendent Mike Allen said: “This was a fantastic combined effort from officers across the operational support and neighbourhood policing teams.

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“Finding a stolen van and bringing it to a stop within an hour of it being reported is excellent work.

“Attempting to evade police and driving recklessly puts lives in danger. Where any individual attempts to do so, our highly trained roads policing officers will not relent in bringing an incident to a safe conclusion and ultimately an arrest.

“It’s totally unacceptable to risk lives in this way and the officers did a brilliant job to ensure that no one was seriously injured.”

An investigation has now been launched.