A HIGH-speed chase through Southampton has ended with a crash involving a police car and the vehicle it was pursuing.

Officers were following a car thought to contain a wanted man who had breached at least one of the conditions surrounding his release from prison.

Following the crash all four people in the vehicle fled the scene.

The manhunt, which began at Sandpiper Road in Lordshill at 3pm yesterday, involved a police helicopter and a dog unit.

A motorist caught up in the drama said: "I was at the roundabout near the Lordhill branch of Sainsbury's when I noticed a high-speed chase.

"A police and the vehicle following it went the wrong side of a small roundabout.

"A short time later I was near Tanner's Close, with a line of parked cars in front of me, when I saw a black Vauxhall Vectra coming very fast towards me, followed by a police car with blue lights in the radiator grille.

"I pulled over and stopped as the two vehicles shot past. It felt very close."

The motorist said he also saw three police vehicles coming out of nearby Lewis Silkin Way, including a vehicle used by the dog unit."

A police spokesman said the car involved in the incident involved a man who had been recalled to prison.

He added: "A police car was damaged when the car being pursued crashed into it.

"There were four people in the vehicle who managed to decamp at some stage. At this stage there have been no arrests."

Police have not released any further details but the crash is thought to have happened in the Lordshill Way area.