A have-a-go hero made a desperate bid to foil ram raiders who smashed their way through the window of a mobile phone shop early today.
The raiders struck at the Total Phone Warehouse at about 3am in the almost-deserted Main Street in Bingley.
But passing motorists who spotted the raid made a brave attempt to head them off with one man clinging to the bonnet of the car.
The ram-raiders slammed a blue Escort through the glass window of the mobile phone shop.
Police today confirmed that the car was thought to have been stolen from the Keighley area.
The motorists passing the Total Phone Warehouse stopped to try to catch the men who stole a number of mobile phones and phone covers.
One man clung on to the Escort as it sped off towards Keighley before spinning round and throwing him to the ground. Eyewitness Keith Yardley, of Five Rise Taxis in Busfeild Street, which runs behind the row of shops where the raid happened,, said: "I came running down the ginnel to see the man clinging on to the car and trying to stop them escaping.
"The car screeched off and he fell into the road. Then the car clipped the side of a van before heading off towards Bradford.
"It was a complete mess and there was glass and bits of car all over the road."
The owner of the shop, who did not want to be named, said today he believed he had lost about £10,000 worth of stock.
He said: "I have just got the latest models in for Christmas.
"I have worked really hard to get this business running smoothly and profitably and they just they just smash into her and take it all away. It's just disgusting."
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said four or five raiders, who are all believed to be white, struck at 3.08am.
He said a white baseball cap, believed to have belonged to one of the raiders, was recovered near the scene. The raid is being investigated by detectives and scenes of crime officers were at the shop today combing the scene for clues.
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