A TOPLESS man sparked chaos on the A64 in York after hurling bricks, stones and wood at passing vehicles.

At least 10 vehicles were said to be damaged, some to the point of being unroadworthy, after a shirtless man threw missiles in the carriageways close to the slip road from the McArthur Glen Designer Outlet, at about 3.45pm today (Thursday, May 3).

North Yorkshire Police officers, supported by a force helicopter, attended the scene and a man was arrested at around 4.15pm.

Eyewitness Matt Boynton, a self-employed joiner, was driving on the eastbound carriageway from Tadcaster back to Huntington, when he saw several cars parked in the westbound lane, and a shirtless man in the middle of the road.

He said: "There was a young lad in the centre of the westbound carriageway and I thought maybe he'd been involved in an accident. He saw the traffic and came into the central reservation and threw a stone at the windscreen of my van. I would probably say it was fist-sized.

"If it had come through the windscreen, it would certainly have injured me, it was right at my central vision point. I dread to think what would've happened if it had smashed through."

Mr Boynton, 31, added: "He just seemed calm as day, just throwing stones in the middle of the road, just like it was something he would normally do, totally oblivious.

"If I had been going any faster, it certainly would've broken the screen. I was so surprised it didn't. I've been quite lucky."

One driver said the man appeared to be bleeding from his left arm, and fled the scene as police attended.

Another driver, who asked not to be named, said the man sprang out from the central reservation.

She said: “I was in the outside lane and he just appeared next to me.

“He had something in his hand and lurched forward towards my car. I thought he was going to stumble into my car. I didn’t think he was going to throw anything at me until afterwards. His right hand was up and he had something in it. He didn’t throw anything at me though.”

The woman said she was driving a convertible with the top down, and if anything had been thrown at her vehicle, she would have been forced to swerve into the merging traffic.

She said: “Maybe that’s why he didn’t throw it.

“He was so close to my car, if he’d gone to throw it [the thing in his hand], I think he would have fallen into my car.

“If it had hit me, I would have swerved into the inside lane where there were cars so I don’t know what would have happened. I don’t know how it could have ended, but I’m surprised he’s alive.”

North Yorkshire Police called for assistance from the police helicopter after the man allegedly fled the scene and began running through gardens in the Fordlands Road area.

A spokeswoman for the Designer Outlet said a man was arrested at the centre at about 4.15pm.

She said: “We can confirm an incident involving a member of the public took place at York Designer Outlet. Police responded immediately and the matter was resolved with no harm to the public or need to close the centre.”

One eyewitness said the A64 westbound was partially blocked, with a long queue almost all the way from the Hull Road Grimston Bar junction to the Fulford exit.

A police spokeswoman said nobody was believed to have been seriously injured in the incident.

A man is in custody helping North Yorkshire Police with their inquiries.