POLICE officers pursuing a stolen Land Rover were forced to abandon the chase for safety reasons after the thieves drove into oncoming traffic on the A1(M).

The 4x4 stolen from Fitzalan Road, Bedale, North Yorkshire, shortly before midnight on Sunday was driven south on the northbound carriageway for nearly 15 miles as a National Police Air Service helicopter was scrambled to pursue it.

Police chiefs authorised a high-speed pursuit after being alerted to the theft and an attempted trailer theft in nearby Aiskew - but the traffic officers were forced to stop when the offenders drove the wrong way round a roundabout and passed no entry signs on to the motorway slip road.

Officers said concerns for the safety of the public and police were behind the decision to abort the chase.

Police guidelines state: "Staff must discontinue a pursuit as soon as the risk becomes disproportionate to the reasons for undertaking it, or where no tactics are available."

The Land Rover was found abandoned about 25 minutes later at Dishforth, south of Thirsk, meaning the thieves drove past the A61 Ripon junction before leaving the A1(M).

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said despite the efforts of local officers, patrol cars, the force's dog search team and the Durham Tees Valley Airport-based helicopter, they found no trace of the thieves, but the car is being forensically examined.

‏He said: "The good news is that the vehicle can now be returned to its rightful owner and enquiries can continue to identify the offenders."

A former deputy chief constable of the force, Peter Walker, said the thieves had committed "the ultimate reckless act" and that it had been sensible and proportionate to end the pursuit.

The incident comes just weeks after a 35-year-old man was arrested after driving the wrong way on the A1M at Dishforth and failing a breath test and a motorist being clocked driving in excess of 150mph on the same stretch of road.

Last year, student Scott Bartram, of Coxhoe, was given an eight-week suspended prison sentence for driving the wrong way on the A1 near Newcastle for eight miles before being stopped for drink-driving.

In 2000, suspected burglar David Prenelle, of Chilton Moor, near Houghton-le-Spring, was killed and two others seriously injured as he drove into oncoming traffic in a bid to escape police on the A1 northbound at Gatherley, near Scotch Corner.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800-555-111.