Lancashire lorry hijack

Hijacked lorry

At around 1pm on 9 March 2009, a lorry was hijacked as it approached a roundabout on Bluebell Way in Preston, Lancashire. The lorry cabin was pulling a 40ft trailer, containing high-value spools of copper wire used for the automotive industry.

The lorry driver stopped when a blue Peugeot 406 Saloon swerved in front of his vehicle. Two men jumped out of the car. Both were wearing suits with high-visibility jackets over the top and carrying clipboards with the distinctive VOSA (Vehicle Operating Services Authority) label on them. The driver of the Peugeot remained in the car.

The offenders claimed to be VOSA officials, and the lorry driver thought they were going to carry out a roadside safety check. He realised soon after the two men entered the vehicle that they were trying to hijack it. They threatened him with a taser gun and told to drive away immediately. They took his mobile phone, dismantled it and threw it out of the window.

The driver was forced to drive more than 100 miles to St Anne's Road in Bloxwich, Walsall and told to park up. Here, another lorry unit and driver arrived and disconnected his trailer, making away with the cargo of copper wire.

The ordeal was far from over for the driver however, who was made to continue driving for another hour to Tewkesbury. Here, he was made to pull into a quiet slipway at the junction of the A38 and the M50, where the offenders bound him with tape and tied his wrists to the steering wheel with cable ties.

They warned him to make no attempts to move until they had left. The driver immediately tried to summon the attention of another person parked in the layby by flashing his lights and sounding his horn. Eventually this witness came to see what was going on, and saw the offenders run from the lorry and into the Peugeot which sped away.

• Witnesses on Bluebell Way, Preston around 1pm: The driver says that during the initial highjack, a queue of traffic formed behind him. Do you remember this hold up? Were you waiting behind the lorry?

• Witnesses at St Anne's Road, Bloxwich, Walsall: Did you see the lorry trailer being transferred from one lorry unit to another at around 3.15pm?

• Witnesses at the slipway, junction with the A38 and M50 in Tewkesbury: Did you see the three offenders speed away in a Peugeot 406? Did you see the lorry pull into the layby?

• Do you know the whereabouts of the copper wire? Has anyone tried to sell this material to you, in a way that could be illegitimate?

• Do you know the whereabouts of the 40ft trailer? It's blue, and is identified by the letters CVR251 on the back and front of the trailer.

• Police believe this incident may be connected with similar crimes in the West Midlands.

• The first offender is described as a white male in his late thirties, and a smoker.

• The second offender is described as a white male, 5ft 2in - 5ft 3in and of stocky build.

• The third offender (who was driving the Peugeot) is described as a short, white male with dark hair, distinctive thick dark eyebrows and possibly and Mediterranean complexion.