A PCSO has been praised after his ‘outside the box’ thinking led to the arrest of a second suspected criminal.

Last month PCSO Mohammad Farooqi, 24, stopped the bus he was travelling on when he spotted a man wanted for criminal damage. He recognised him because he was known for his persistent spitting.

On Saturday PCSO Farooqi was on patrol in West Bowling when a Yorkshire Water employee told him he had just seen another officer chasing a man on foot.

PCSO Farooqi jumped into the passenger seat of the Yorkshire Water vehicle and the pair joined in the pursuit and captured the man, who has been charged.

A spokesman for the Great Horton Neighbourhood Policing Team called the pair an “unlikely crime-fighting duo”.