Crime
Marked police stop dump truck driver after five miles
A NINE-TONNE dumper truck
was taken from a building site
and driven for more than five
miles along narrow country
lanes before being stopped by police.
The truck, which was driven
around erratically at speeds of
more than 20mph without lights
during the half-hour journey,
only stopped to let a police patrol
car pass - because its occupants
thought it was a taxi. No one was
hurt during the incident.
A police spokesman said the
machine had been left inside a
fenced compound on the site of
Durham Johnston Comprehensive
School, in Crossgate Moor,
on the outskirts of Durham City.
Shortly before 2am on Sunday,
the machine was started up and
smashed through two perimeter
fences before being driven on to
the A167.
The truck then turned right in
Toll House Road and headed for
Bear Park, where it travelled
along Auton Stile, before turning
left into White House Lane toward
Ushaw Moor.
It continued along Station
Road, turning left into Pit Lane,
towards New Brancepeth.
The spokesman said: "A taxi
driver alerted the police after
spotting the vehicle being driven
erratically.
"A marked police car was
quickly on the scene. The occupants
of the dumper truck, apparently
believing it was a taxi,
pulled over to let it pass.
"A man in his 20s, who had
been sitting in the passenger
seat, was arrested on the spot."
A second man, also in his 20s
ran off. He handed himself in to
the police a few hours later.
The two men, both from the
Crook area, have been charged
with aggravated vehicle taking.
The man believed to have been at
the wheel has been charged with
dangerous driving. They are due
to appear before Consett magistrates
later this month.
● GB Building Solutions is carrying
out a £23.9m rebuild of
Durham Johnston School, with
work due to finish by April.
The revamp will see all 1,470
pupils taught at Crossgate Moor.
Steel structures have gone up
and some interior work has started.
The Crossgate Moor buildings
will be knocked down to
make way for a car park.
1:11pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
Print 
Email this
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
