POLICE hunting the hit-and-run Punto driver who knocked down York schoolgirl Katie Scales are set to extend their search for the car into West Yorkshire.

Black Fiat Punto owners as far away as Leeds could soon face being quizzed by North Yorkshire Police officers as the search for the vehicle which seriously injured 11-year-old Katie continues.

Sergeant Mick Crome said: "I know we are going into West Yorkshire postcodes and a decision will be made mid-week as to how far that search will go."

It is more than a week since Katie, from Haxby, a pupil at All Saints' School, York, suffered multiple injuries when she was hit by a black Fiat Punto while crossing the road outside the Odeon Cinema in Blossom Street, York.

Police have been contacting Punto owners in a effort to trace the vehicle, believed to be a new model dating from 1999 onwards.

Updated: 12:09 Saturday, December 14, 2002