Police arrested three men and a woman after pursuing their car in a chase that brought chaos to Selby's main shopping street.

The battered white Hyundai car was brought to a halt in Gowthorpe, at about 4pm yesterday, when police overtook it and forced it to pull in at the kerb, yards short of the crossroads with Scott Road and Brook Street.

Traffic was brought to a near standstill as the car and three of its five occupants were searched by police at the roadside.

Two of the occupants were seen to jump out of the car and make a dash for freedom.

Police made one arrest, but the other escaped.

The mayhem continued as a passing taxi's engine caught fire and the cab was forced to pull up outside Tyke Petroleum on the other side of the junction.

A fire engine was called, but the incident was under control by the time it arrived.

Witness Gordon Wray, partner of Selby Bike Centre in Gowthorpe, said that he saw one man in his late teens or early 20s run down Turner's Square, the alley next to his shop.

He said: "He ran down there, realised it was a cul-de-sac and then ran out again. "I was trying to serve somebody at the time and I just saw him flash past the window."

Eventually, the occupants of the car were escorted to a police van and moments later the man who had escaped emerged from the car park behind South Parade, escorted by plain-clothed police officers, and was put into the police car.

Police today confirmed that four people, a woman and three men, all from the Leeds area, had been arrested and released on bail pending further inquiries. DC Simon Dixon said that the group had been reported acting suspiciously near the railway bridge in Bawtry Road, near to where a white Volkswagen Golf was broken into.

He said: "They were seen to travel away from the area in a white car.

"And a very short time later a white Hyundai car was stopped in the street.

"Two people made off, a white male and a black male.

"Eventually, the remaining three occupants of the car, two white males and a female and the white male who had run off were arrested.

"We are appealing for witnesses who saw anybody acting suspiciously at the time."

Witnesses should contact Selby Police on (01757) 702596.

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