A Frank Spencer impersonator allegedly pinched a police radio and clogged the airwaves with the comic character's catchphrases.

Officers only caught up with the cheeky thief, who imitated the star of Seventies sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, when they stopped his car after two days of chaos.

He asked them in his Spencer voice: "Can I help you?"

Inspector Martin Pattenden, of Worthing police, said: "We started having surprise radio messages which weren't made by officers.

"We were also having stupid pop music played over the radio.

"There were times when controllers were trying to dispatch police officers to urgent calls and getting a regular person calling up and offering to attend these calls so they were like phantom units that weren't there.

"At one stage this joker was using a Frank Spencer voice. Either policemen could have been injured because of some idiot blocking the airwaves or emergency calls wouldn't have got through."

When officers challenged him over the airwaves he abused them.

Then, during the early hours, Acting Sergeant Andy Westwood caught up with him when he stopped a car in Worthing town centre.

A Worthing man in his early 20s has been arrested on suspicion of theft in connection with the incident and has been released on police bail as investigations continue.