Watch as thugs in a stolen van ram police car into a barrier at 70mph

Shocking footage shows the moment a van rammed a police car during a high-speed chase on a motorway.

The passenger of the vehicle even livestreamed the ferocious 70mph crash as it happened. 

A squad of four police cars attempted to surrounded the white van on the M1 in Nottinghamshire after it was stolen from an address in Sheffield.

A police car was sent flying into the barrier at the side of the road when the van rammed it aside.

Another car on the motorway was also damaged after a wheel flew off the damaged vehicle and smashed into it. 

The white van rammed a police car off the M1 in Nottinghamshire during a high-speed chase

The two men in the van (bottom right) were later arrested after being forced off the road in Yorkshire

More than £100,000 of damage was caused by the actions of the two men in the van, aged 24 and 19, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Although the car was damaged beyond repair, the two police officers inside escaped serious injury. 

The van was eventually stopped after it hit spikes placed on the road by officers near Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

The men were arrested and stolen kitchen equipment was retrieved from the van. 

Footage of the horror crash in December 2021 was released after the two men, Robert Wingate, 24, and Deimantas Palaima, 19, were jailed.

Driver Wingate pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods, aggravated vehicle taking, two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and four counts of criminal damage. 

He was jailed for three years and nine months, to be served after the end of his current sentence. 

Palaima, who gestured at officers and filmed the crash as their car was rammed off the road, ‘encouraged Wingate to drive as he did’, the court was told.

The teenager pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods, aggravated vehicle taking (being carried), two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and one count of criminal damage. 

Police said the two officers in the car smashed off the road at 70mph were lucky not to have been seriously injured 

He was jailed and banned from driving for 25 months each. 

The two men were both described as ‘posing an enormous risk to the general public.’ 

Detective Sergeant Matt Dumbrell, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘It’s a miracle our two officers who were rammed off the road were not seriously injured.

‘This dangerous driving showed total disregard for the safety of others using the road and put the lives of others at serious risk.

‘It was only thanks to determined police teamwork the van was brought to a halt before any further harm was caused.

‘I’m pleased Wingate and Palaima have now been locked up and I hope the sentences they have received give them an opportunity to consider their actions.’