Police officers injured in horror crash on the A1

EVEN Northumbria Police officers were taken to hospital following a horror crash on the A1 in Newcastle in the early hours of yesterday morning.

- ADAM FOSTER Reporter [e-mail]

At about 2am yesterday officers had attempted to stop a car in the Whickham area of Gateshead due to concerns about the manner it was being driven.

The dark grey BMW M Sport had then been driven off. The car was later sighted in the Swalwell area of the town, with specialist officers from Northumbria Police's Roads Policing Unit sent to the area and, at 2.25am, they got behind the car.

Police were in pursuit of the BMW when at 2.27am the car and five police vehicles were involved in a collision on the northbound section of the A1 near the Derwent Haugh Road junction.

The North East Ambulance Service dispatched five ambulance crews, a specialist paramedic, a duty officer, two crews from the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) and requested support from colleagues at the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) who attended by road. The fire service were also called to the scene.