M6 reopened after 'first date' ends in police chase

The M6 was temporarily closed in the early hours of Saturday morning

A couple believed to be on their first date triggered a motorway speed camera in Cumbria travelling around 120mph, police said.

Lancashire Police officers picked up the pursuit and the vehicle left the southbound carriageway on an exit slip road around junctions 31 and 31A east of Preston.

The male driver performed a U-turn and returned to the motorway driving north on the southbound carriageway.

Motorway patrol vehicles were able to bring the car to a stop and the male driver left the vehicle and fled on foot. He was later arrested.

A police spokesperson said: "We prevented the vehicle from carrying on driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic. The southbound traffic was stopped north of Preston, the driver may have crossed the central reservation (in his attempts to run away)."

A female passenger, left in vehicle, sustained back injuries and fire officers were required to cut off the roof so she could be released.

She was taken for hospital treatment by paramedics.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said two crews from Preston and one from Fulwood were called to the M6 carriageway shortly after 3am on Saturday, August 29.

The motorway was reopened shortly after the vehicle had been cleared.

The police spokesperson added that it was believed the couple were on their first date, one they are "unlikely to forget".