Updated: THIS was the scene as a dramatic 80-mile high-speed police chase came to a shuddering halt in York.

Four men were arrested in Malton Way, Rawcliffe, after police had chased them for more than an hour through two counties.

The drama began at 3pm in Consett, County Durham, when two men robbed Securicor staff as they filled a cash machine at a Tesco store, snatching money.

Two men, believed to have an axe, fled in a brown or maroon Honda Civic, which was found burned out in Consett, then made off in a black BMW 520.

Officers from Durham and North Yorkshire Police followed it by road and in a helicopter through the north-east, along the A691, A1(M), A177 and then the A19 from Stockton to York. They swooped when the BMW crashed into the bollards in Malton Way at 4.10pm.

The Securicor guards were uninjured, but were said by police last night to have been suffering from shock.

Large crowds of onlookers gathered as the suspects were arrested.

Local resident Alice Greene, 23, said: “We heard the police sirens and saw police cars racing down the street and there was a helicopter flying overhead. There were about 12 or 15 police cars.”

Another onlooker said: “I have never seen so many police cars in all my life.” A teacher from nearby Clifton With Rawcliffe Primary School said: “We saw the helicopter and heard sirens and heard police coming from all directions.

“We saw one person pinned to the ground by police and another had run into a garden. A third was being marched into the back of a car.

“They seemed very young. Had it been 20 minutes earlier, when the school was finishing, we could have had a serious problem.”

Some residents said they had heard the suspects had been led down the street by their satnav system, which had not alerted them to the bollards.

A Durham Constabulary spokeswoman last night said four men had been arrested.

The robbery took place at 3pm yesterday at the Tesco store in Delve Lane, Consett. One local resident writing on twitter said two masked men had left a car while the ATM was being filled, and got away with a box.

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “We can confirm there was incident at 3pm but since there is an ongoing police investigation it is not appropriate to comment further.”