A POLICE officer accused of dangerous driving when he pursued a petrol thief at speeds of up to 80mph told a jury he was only doing what police officers are trained to do which is catch criminals.

Pc Adam Steventon, 39, followed and caught Terence Maugh after he watched him steal petrol from a Tesco petrol station at Skipton.

The Skipton-based officer pursued Maugh in the Vauxhall Vectra for three miles at speeds between 30mph and 80mph along the A629 from Skipton towards Keighley, crossing double white lines and jumping a red light in a coned off 30mph road works.

Maugh smashed head-on into a red Citroen C4, spinning in the road works. The Citroen driver escaped serious injury. Maugh jumped out over a wall only for Pc Steventon to chase him for a quarter of a mile across a field and arrest him.

Pc Steventon booked Maugh in at Skipton Police Station for dangerous driving and making off without payment only to come under a cloud himself because of the crash. He was told in the parade room he could have breached Association of Chief Police Officers guidelines introduced in 2011 which prohibited non traffic officers from engaging in pursuits.

After a police investigation, he was accused of following the Vectra too closely and was charged with dangerous driving on the A629, Keighley and Cononley Road on March 12, 2014.

Taking the witness stand, at Hull Crown Court Pc Steventon, a police officer for 17 years, said he was working the 3pm-11pm shift in a 1.3 Astra with a female special constable when they saw a Vectra pull into the Tesco petrol station and its driver begin to fill up with petrol. He admitted his “police nose” made him suspicious of the poor condition of the car and knew when it mounted the kerb and rapidly sped off the driver had not paid.

“My first thought was: I have just seen a crime and I have to apprehend the offender,” said Pc Steventon. “My mental plan was to follow the vehicle, so that I could notify the traffic officer on duty. I did not think I was doing anything wrong. I just thought I was doing my job. I do not think my driving was dangerous or put others at risk at any time.”

He told the jury how he notified the traffic officer “there was a fail to stop” over the police radio and began following the Vectra, keeping in contact with force control over the radio as he described his location.

“I thought, Andy, the traffic officer was close by,” said Pc Steventon. “We were not pursing, we were just following at the time. Pursuit is getting behind the car, blues on, lights on, using tactics to get it to stop.”

He said he saw the Vectra hit a kerb in a cloud of dust and drove on through the debris. During the next portion of the pursuit the Vectra was 400m in front on a 60mph road. “I was think I was travelling at 60-80mph. I do not think my speed was excessive. It is a long straight road, it out is in open country. I had driven the road hundreds of times.”

In a statement to police, Pc Steventon said he had been given a North Yorkshire Superintendent’s letter of appreciation in 2012 for following a burglar’s van in a patrol car until he was arrested.

Under cross-examination from Crown barrister David Hall PC Steventon admitted he had not been given advanced driver training, but instead had completed a standard two-week police driver training course in 1998 when he first became a police officer.

He said “For the last 15 years of my service I have been doing blue light runs and I have a good record."

The trial continues.