A dramatic clip has emerged showing a van, allegedly stolen, being driven the wrong way down a dual carriageway in Kent as police pursued it at high speed, forcing numerous motorists to take evasive action to avoid a head-on collision. The 15-mile chase ended in Bromley, south-east London, when Metropolitan Police officers rammed the vehicle off the road and arrested the driver, in an incident that echoes recent fatal wrong-way crashes involving police vehicles elsewhere in Britain and Ireland.

Kent Police said the Citroën van was allegedly stolen from a property in Swanscombe on Sunday afternoon after a man smashed a window; the owner reportedly knew the suspect. Officers traced the van to Swanley several hours later, but it failed to stop and drove into London, where the Met took over and detained the driver using a "tactical contact" manoeuvre on Mottingham Road; one officer suffered a hand injury but was discharged from hospital, and no other serious injuries were reported. The incident follows the deaths of two police officers and five members of the public on the A66 near Middlesbrough after a wrong-way collision, and a separate fatal crash on Ireland's M9.