An ambulance was stolen from outside a major UK hospital with a patient and paramedic inside.
A huge police operation was launched last night with a dog handler, plane and officers spotted around Chesterton area. The incident unfolded at around 8.15pm last night when the ambulance was taken from outside the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Staffordshire Police later confirmed a 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of kidnap, vehicle theft, drink driving and other offences, and remains in police custody, where he is due to be questioned today.
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It’s understood no keys had been left in the ambulance at the time of the incident, reports Stoke-on-Trent Live.
Police managed to catch up with the ambulance and followed it until it stopped at an Esso petrol station on the A34 at the junction of Liverpool Road and London Road on the outskirts of Chesterton.
A police dog and handler were deployed with a search taking place on marshland off London Road. The man tried to flee before he was stopped by a dog and arrested by police.
A spokeswoman for Staffordshire Police said: “We were called after a man got into an ambulance while it was parked at the hospital and drove off. A paramedic, a patient and another person were in the back of the ambulance at the time it was taken.
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The 31-year-old man, from Stoke-on-Trent, was arrested on suspicion of kidnap, vehicle theft, drink driving and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
“He will be questioned in custody today. No one from inside the ambulance was injured,” police added.
Witnesses have been asked to contact the police on 101 and quote incident number 743 of March 25.
Mirror