A VIDEO showing the moment a thief who’d stolen a quad bike crashed it into a police car has been released.

The video, recorded on police body worn cameras, shows one police car pursuing the bike on the A40 in the pitch black night and the officer rushing to the fallen rider in the middle of the carriageway, before placing him in handcuffs and asking if he is alright.

Footage from another body camera, worn by the officer driving the marked police car the rider clipped the side of, captures the moment of impact.

Police vehicles had been trying to "contain" the quad on the road when the rider crashed into the lead police car in the early hours of August 3.

In the video the quad rider, dressed in just tracksuit bottoms and a hooded top and without a helmet, or seemingly any other protective clothing, is seen entering the camera’s view from the driver’s ’blind spot’, over his right shoulder, before then clipping the side of the police car.

As the rider does so a thud can be heard and the rider disappears from view.

The police driver can be heard on the video telling a colleague: "Yes, the quad bike’s collided with the side of the police car."

Police had been following the rider after being made aware it was travelling in convoy with a red Volkswagen Golf, which raised suspicions that it was stolen.

The quad was later reported as stolen from a farm at Sarnau, just north of Brecon, by an 82-year-old farmer who had bought it just days earlier.

This month the rider Ieuan Evans, aged 25, of Merthyr Tydfil, admitted taking the vehicle without consent, failing to stop for police and driving without insurance.

Dyfed-Powys Police said he was given a community order by magistrates at Merthyr Tydfil and told to carryout 80 hours of unpaid work.

He is also banned from driving for six months, and must pay £85 costs plus a £90 victim surcharge.

Sergeant Thomas Songhurst, of Dyfed-Powys Police, said: "Officers followed the quad bike, and the driver pulled away when he saw the police vehicle. He did not stop when requested, and a tactical containment was carried out, ending with the quad bike colliding with the police car.

"The officer’s intention would have been to contain the vehicle and bring it to a stop safely.

"Unfortunately the rider has tried to avoid being stopped and he has collided with the police car when he tries to go past.

"As a result, the quad was recovered and the driver was arrested.”

Sgt Songhurst also warned thieves targeting farm equipment the footage shows Dyfed-Powys Police will pursue them: “We are receiving more and more reports of quad bikes, which has a huge impact on people working in the farming industry.

“These vehicles are vital pieces of equipment, and cause huge disruption when they are stolen.

“As this footage shows, we will do all we can to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”