Two arrested after 200 suspected stolen chainsaws recovered from van in Nottinghamshire

Officers were travelling along the M1 from junction 27 northbound for Hucknall and Annesley at 4.45am on Tuesday, September 26 when they noticed a suspicious white Mercedes Sprinter.

Officers turned on their blue lights, but the vehicle failed to stop.

The vehicle was travelling at 70 mph before leaving the motorway at junction 30 for Worksop.

It then veered the wrong way around a roundabout before the driver fled the vehicle.

The passenger, aged 35, remained at the scene and was arrested for theft of a motor vehicle and theft, including theft by finding.

The 23-year-old driver ran down the southbound slip road, across the M1 and back up the northbound exit slip again before he was caught and arrested for driving while disqualified, failure to stop, and theft from a motor vehicle.

The vehicle had been stolen from West Yorkshire and contained 208 boxes of petrol chainsaws worth nearly £60,000.

Superintendent Louise Clarke said: “This was a great result by multiple officers who were first alerted to this vehicle by the way it was being driven.

“The vehicle was being driven on false plates and had been stolen from West Yorkshire.

"It also contained more than 200 boxes of what we believe are stolen chainsaws.

“We ensure the roads in and out of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are well policed and any vehicle we believe is linked to criminal activity will be stopped and searched.”