A POLICE car was damaged when a blue Ford Fiesta collided with it following a dramatic chase in York.

Officers received reports that the occupants - a man and two women - had allegedly been shoplifting from the Mothercare store at Clifton Moor at 7.30pm yesterday.

They spotted the Fiesta heading towards the A1237, but the driver refused to stop when it was later confronted by police vehicles on the A19.

Sergeant Colin Ventress, of York Police, said the car then crashed into a police car along Shipton Road, near Limetree Nursing Home.

The male suspect was caught by officers as he tried to run off across a nearby cricket pitch, and the women were apprehended in the Fiesta. All three were arrested.

No one was hurt.

Updated: 11:05 Friday, June 27, 2003