Northants Police teamwork sees stolen vehicles recovered quickly in Finedon and Cranford

The first incident was called in just after 9am when a Range Rover Evoque was spotted by ANPR cameras in Rushden.

Dispatchers in the force’s control room quickly alerted frontline officers to the high-powered car, which was on cloned plates, leading to the car being stopped by ARV and Road Crime team officers in Finedon just after 3pm.

An 18-year-old man was arrested for the theft of a motor vehicle.

The second incident was called in just after 1.30pm, when a delivery driver reported that his van had been stolen in Burton Road, Finedon, by a man who had snatched the keys out of his hands and made off with the vehicle.

Officers were quickly deployed, who tracked the van to the nearby village of Cranford St John, where they recovered it and handed it back to the rightful owner at 3.15pm.

Work is ongoing to locate the offender.

Insp Carl Wilson said: “Working in a police control room is really a job like no other and every day I see some fantastic teamwork where call handlers, dispatchers and police officers are all working together to fight crime and protect people.

“These two unlinked incidents are great examples of that teamwork and we were really pleased to be able to return these vehicles to their rightful owners.”