A GANG of thieves burst in on an ambulance operator and kept him pinned to a chair while they escaped with three ambulances at the weekend.

Peter Smith had called into his office at the Northern Ambulance Service, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, on Saturday morning to complete some paperwork before the start of the week.

But his day took a terrifying turn when four men burst into his office, forced him into a chair and then escaped with office equipment and three of the private firm's fleet.

The remaining members of the gang fled when they heard two of Mr Smith's colleagues pulling up outside the building.

The shaken worker then managed to call police.

Mr Smith, from Newton Aycliffe, said: "I had just been doing office work really, I should not even have been there on Saturday morning. I just wanted to get rid of the workload for Monday.

"The door was open, they just came in. I was pushed around and forced into a chair. When I tried to use the phone to ring the police, they slammed it down.

"I got a lot of threats from them, saying what they were going to do if I did not do as I was told."

Police chased the three stolen ambulances and caught one in Washington, Wearside, and the other two in Newcastle. Four men were arrested.

Inspector Ged Doherty, from Newton Aycliffe police station, said all four had been released on bail pending further inquiries.