Dramatic pictures of '˜stinger' operation

Officers deployed the device – which bursts a car’s tyres –in Liverpool Road, Hutton, near Preston.

It all seemed dramatically real – but it turned out to be a training exercise

Evening Post photograper Neil Cross took these pictures as the incident unfolded before him.

It happened at around 2.30pm today as he was driving home.

Neil said: “I wondered afterwards if it was a training exercise but it all looked real to me.

“This policeman ran across the road carrying something and I figured it was a stinger.

“I thought at first they were after me!

“He said: ‘Get out of the way quick’ so I did.

“Then this blue car came past followed by a police car and ran over the stinger.”

A Lancashire police spokesman confirmed it was a training exercise.