FIVE police officers were injured and three police vehicles severely damaged when a man driving a giant construction vehicle ran amok on public roads near York.

A police helicopter joined the chase one mile north of Selby, after the rogue driver, said by police to be local, rammed pursuing police vehicles and pursued officers as they tried to flee on foot.

Armed officers and dog handlers were called to George Terrace, in Barlby, after the man, seen by witnesses to be wearing a blonde wig, dumped the machine in a field and ran to a nearby house.

After a two-hour stand off late last night, negotiators persuaded the man to leave the house, where he was bundled to the ground and arrested by officers wearing body armour and using shields.

Eyewitness Mark Bayliss, 24, of Barlby, said the digger rammed through a pursuing police van at the beginning of the chase "like there was nothing there".

He said: "It was enormous, it made a passing van look tiny. They were lucky to get out at all. It was horrific."

Five officers were taken to York Hospital suffering from slight injuries after the chase. The drama began when a police patrol attempted to stop the digger on the A19 after reports that it had been seen driving dangerously and erratically.

The driver refused to stop and rammed the van twice, pushing it into a field. A second patrol car was overturned and partially crushed and a third van slammed sideways into a fence.

The "loading shovel" vehicle, which is used in quarries and on major construction sites, was found in a nearby field off Cherry Tree Walk and the man was traced to a house where he had locked himself in.

Inspector Andrew Lunt, who led the police operation, said firearms officers were brought in "as a precaution" as it was not known if the man had weapons in the house. He said: "Obviously with these situations we do not know how long it can go on for. For it to end fairly quickly without serious injury to anybody is a satisfactory conclusion."

Updated: 10:17 Monday, March 24, 2003