Daring dad James Robert clung to the back of his powerful BMW for two miles as car thieves drove off at 80mph.

Engineer James, 31, grabbed hold of the rear spoiler desperately clung on with his elbows as the villains swerved from side to side and hurtled through red lights at 40 mph.

He was finally able to leap off when the thieves were forced to slow down as a taxi pulled out of a side street.

James was left battered and bruised and with his clothes shredded by the terror ordeal, which began after he advertised his 3.2 litre BMW M3 for sale in a car magazine.

He agreed to meet two men, who had responded to the advert, at a petrol station in Bradford Road, Liversedge, West Yorkshire, to take them on a test drive.

But as they changed seats, one of the men locked him out of the car and shuffled into the drivers seat.

Said James: "I shouted for him to let me in but then realised he was going to drive off, so I grabbed hold of the rear spoiler.

"He set off really quickly, then slammed the brakes on. He was swerving all over the road trying to get me off.

"When I looked through the window I could see he was going between 70 and 80mph."

James, who keeps fit with running, weight training and cycling, added: "I managed to hold myself off the road by leaning on my elbows.

"He was overtaking cars and I was shouting at them as we passed to call the police.

"There was a long line of queuing cars but he just ignored them and we went through some lights at red at about 40 mph.

"By then, I was thinking 'I've made a mistake here,' but he was going too fast for me to jump off."

The terror ride ended after two miles in Cleckheaton town centre when Mr Robert was at last able to leap off as the car was forced to slow down.

He said: "I was battered and bruised and all my clothes were cut.

"A line of people queuing to get into a restaurant were just open-mouthed."

Police later recovered the car undamaged.