UPDATE: Man arrested after cyclist critically injured by hijacked car

A man has been arrested after a car was stolen in Carnforth and a cyclist was left fighting for his life.

The injured cyclist, a man aged 24, was hit by the stolen car and taken to the Royal Preston Hospital via air ambulance where he remained in a critical condition.

The arrested man, 30, from the Manchester area, was being held in police custody in Manchester and was due to be transferred to Cumbria Police.

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Police were looking for the man and the stolen car at the time of the crash, which happened at 3.20pm on Wednesday in Ulverston around three hours after the car was taken from a Carnforth service station.

Superintendent Rob O’Connor said: “I would like to thank the family of the injured cyclist for the patience they have shown this week.

“I would also like to thank the public – particularly those people who have responded to our appeals by contacting us with information.”

The injured man is from the Ulverston area.

The collision happened after a man drove off in a black Volkswagen Polo from Truckhaven Services in Carnforth on Wednesday at 12.30pm.

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He got into the passenger side while an elderly woman was parked at the service station and demanded she got out.

The man had earlier followed her into the services in a white van.

This came after an earlier incident at Forton Services near Lancaster at around noon on Wednesday.

A 60-year-old woman was sitting in the passenger side of a Range Rover Evoque in the car park when a man got into the car and threatened her.

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She managed to get out and raise the alarm and the man left the vehicle before making off in a white transit van, heading north on to the motorway.

Police said all three incidents were linked.

They put out an appeal to find the man before the crash on Wednesday afternoon, saying the stolen car had been spotted in Ulverston at around 2.20pm.

The collision occurred in the area of the A5087 at the junction of Park Road and Priory Road in Ulverston. The vehicle was later found by police abandoned in the nearby area.

Cumbria Police contacted the Independent Police Complaints Commission to make them aware of the incident as there were a number of officers in the area at the time of the collision.