A car sprayed sparks behind it for four miles as a dramatic police chase ended with two officers in hospital.

The desperate driver refused to give up his bid to escape from police after the tyre of his Ford Mondeo burst during a pursuit.

And he was only brought to a halt after officers used three Sussex Police cars to box him in.

Two officers from the force's road policing unit, based at Chichester, suffered whiplash in collisions when the chase finally ended.

The drama began when a police patrol tried to pull over a green Ford Mondeo on the A259 in Littlehampton which had been driving erratically at 10.45am today.

The officers chased the Ford when the driver refused to stop. They watched as the car hit a kerb as the driver struggled to get away and one of his Ford's tyres disintegrated.

Instead of giving up, he made for Worthing with police in £25,000 E-class Mercedes cars behind.

For the next four miles the car trailed a shower of sparks as its driver tried to evade capture.

Eventually three police cars surrounded the Ford, one behind, one in front and one to the side, near the junction of Aldsworth Avenue and Bury Drive in Goring.

The four cars collided with each other as police boxed the suspect in and slowed down. All three police cars and the Ford were damaged.

Two police officers in one of the cars suffered whiplash.

They were taken to Worthing Hospital for treatment but were expected to be released later tonight.