Nottinghamshire Police arrest suspected dangerous driver who tailgated ambulance at speed from Sutton-in-Ashfield to Newark and drove into emergency worker

Officers investigating reports of a car tailgating an ambulance and then driving at a member of the crew have arrested a suspect.

A motorist reportedly followed an ambulance at speed, while it was on a blue light run, from Sutton-in-Ashfield to Newark.

The car drove behind the emergency vehicle over the space of several minutes as it made its way eastbound along the A617.

On more than one occasion the car mirrored the ambulance’s speed as it tried to respond to an incident.

It was also seen to tailgate the blue-lighted ambulance when it overtook other vehicles, with the car narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic as a result.

This prompted the emergency crew to pull over, with an ambulance technician then getting out to challenge the other motorist about their driving.

They responded to this by reportedly driving straight at the emergency worker, who was forced to cling onto the car’s bonnet as it carried on moving.

The driver continued to drive forward until they’d barged the ambulance technician out of the way, before then leaving the scene.

The emergency services worker suffered minor injuries during the collision, which happened on the A617 in Hockerton, around 9.20pm on June 12.

Since then, police investigating the incident carried out extensive inquiries and tracked down and detained a suspect on Wednesday (July 17).

A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, and failing to stop following a road traffic collision.

PC Jamie Hinks, said: “It is against the law for anyone to follow an ambulance or other emergency vehicle while they’re responding to an incident under blue lights.

“That includes mirroring the speeds they will have to travel at, or any overtaking manoeuvres they will need to use, in order to get to where they’re going in a timely fashion.

“The standard of driving demonstrated in this incident was completely unacceptable and put other road users in danger.

“That includes an emergency worker who was thankfully only left with minor injuries after another motorist rammed them with their car when they challenged them about their driving.

“This action could’ve quite easily resulted in the pedestrian being seriously hurt, so everyone involved is extremely fortunate this didn’t happen.

“We’re pleased to say we’ve now arrested a suspect in connection with this incident, although our inquiries are still ongoing, so we’d ask anyone with any further information to contact us.

“This can be left either by calling the police on 101, quoting incident 737 of 12 June 2024, or by contacting Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”