A MANHUNT was launched after a gang rammed police cars and smashed their way through steel security gates with £150,000 of stolen trucks.

One suspected thief is under arrest in hospital after he was hit by one of the stolen HGVs in the car park of the Tudor Rose pub and Premier Inn, on Parkgate Road, Ledsham, Wirral.

The 34-year-old, from Liverpool, was struck by a Volvo truck as he tried to escape from police at about 1.30am yesterday.

He escaped with a fractured pelvis and was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital, where yesterday he was reported to be in a stable condition.

Police arrested him and are holding him in custody at the hospital as he recovers from his injuries.

The remaining gang-of-three smashed their way past two police cars as they made off towards Heswall. None of the police officers was injured.

The thieves then dumped the tractor unit of one of the lorries on Badgers Rake Lane, close to Inglewood Manor about 500 metres away.

All three HGVs had been stolen from a haulage yard in Greenfield, near Holywell, North Wales, less than an hour earlier.

The group took a tractor unit with a 44-ton capability and two empty 26-ton lorries, one of which was relatively new.

HGVs like these are most commonly stripped down for parts and sold on the Continent. Police have recovered all three wagons, which have been forensically examined.