POLICE are hunting a man who hijacked a delivery van at a motorway service station before leading the driver to a remote field and assaulting him.

The driver endured a four-hour ordeal after he was confronted by a man, who detectives believe could have been armed, at Rainton services on the A1, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.

The victim was sitting in his 7.5 tonne Mercedes van at about 3pm on Monday when a man opened the door and ordered him to drive north up the A1.

He was told to turn off on to the A61 and drive into the village of Baldersby, where he was taken into a field near Busby Stoop, tied up and attacked. The van, which was carrying a large quantity of training shoes, was then stolen.

The driver managed to contact police at about 7pm and gave a description of his attacker. He is said to be a large black man, in his late 20s or early 30s, who was wearing a long-sleeved jumper or jacket and a baseball cap with a square logo on the front.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "The victim says he felt something pressed against him but nothing was actually seen, so we don't know whether it was a weapon or not."

A woman today contacted police to say she saw a group of men with two cars parked, with boots open, on a layby of the A61 Ripon to Thirsk road just before the incident.

Police are asking these men to come forward, as well as any witnesses who saw the Mercedes van, registration number ROS 51S, in the area at the time. Harrogate CID can be contacted on (01423) 505541.

The incident was the second daylight hijack in the region in the last two months. In May, a gang of men posed as police officers in an unmarked car to persuade a lorry driver to pull into a layby on the A66, near Scotch Corner.

He was threatened with a handgun and dumped in a country lane six hours later. His lorry, containing 12,000 bottles of vodka, was stolen and later found burnt out near Lanchester, County Durham.

Updated: 16.00 Tuesday, July 17