Raiders rammed a police car after they were caught smashing their way into a designer clothes shop in Bradford city centre last night.

A lone policeman saw the gang of three men using crowbars to break into AN-X in Upper Millergate at 10pm.

The gang jumped into a stolen silver Audi, which was used to ram the police vehicle out of the way, before it was driven off at high speed along Sunbridge Road with one of the raiders hanging out of a window and clothes spilling on to the road.

Other police units pursed the Audi but the gang managed to escape on the Shipley-Airedale Road.

Inspector Steve Baker, of Bradford South Police, said the officer, who was in his car when it was rammed by the gang, was not injured.

"They'd filled the car up with clothes, but as they were escaping a lot of the clothes were coming out and spilling on to the road," he said.

"One of the raiders was hanging out of side window.

"The car was followed at a safe distance by officers but it escaped once it got on to the Shipley Airedale Road

"We believe the same vehicle, which had false number plates, was involved in another ram-raid half an hour before in Wakefield."

Today, AN-X manager Alex Shaw, 32, said: "I believe a member of the public tried to tackle the raiders, which is quite heroic, but they still got away.

"They've taken about £15,000 of stock including 50 pairs of designer jeans. The police have returned some of the clothes which fell out of the raiders' car and on to the road but that's all ruined.

"It looks like they'd sawn the locks off the metal grill and then rammed the plate glass window before breaking it up with bars of some kind. I only moved here last December from across the road. My other shop was ram-raided three times a couple of years ago but then it stopped. It seems to go out of fashion but now ram-raiding seems to be back in."

The incident is the latest in a series of ram-raids in the city centre.

Posts designed to stop ram-raids were installed in front of stores on the Forster Square Retail Park after a number of raids at the V2 designer clothes store and JJB Sports shop.

The owners of the Capo designer store in Charles Street, off Broadway, have spent tens of thousands of pounds to improve security after five separate ram-raids on the designer clothes store in the last two years.

And last month the To Die For store in Sunbridge Road was targeted twice by raiders who smashed a plate glass window to get at stock.

At the beginning of the month police chiefs announced a four-fold increase in the number of city centre bobbies.

The new 12-man squad is dedicated to reclaiming the streets for shoppers and workers and restoring confidence in Bradford's commercial district.

Anyone with any information about the latest raid should call Bradford South CID on (01274) 376485.