Police vehicle rammed in £15k vodka attempted heist

A cloned lorry was recovered by police after thieves abandoned it on the outside lane of the M40

A police vehicle was rammed by thieves attempting to escape with £15,000 of vodka stolen from the trailer of a parked lorry at a motorway service station.

The Warwickshire force said it was called to a report of two men acting suspiciously at Warwick Services Northbound on the M40 at 00:40 BST on Thursday.

When officers arrived, the offenders drove at their vehicle in a cloned Renault HGV before they made off down the motorway.

The lorry was later found abandoned in the outside lane of the M40 and the offenders fled by running across the southbound carriageway, the force added.

Police officers recovered £15,000 of vodka from the would-be thieves

The vehicle was recovered along with 150 boxes of vodka which officers loaded back onto the targeted vehicle.

No police officers were injured, the force said and added it was patrolling lorry parks regularly to reduce theft.

Det Insp Pete Sherwood said: "Gangs continue to come into the county to target lorry parks.

"With officers patrolling these sites we may well have officers nearby to respond quickly."