Close call for $110,000 car driver

The BMW lost its roof, and the Toyota ended up on its side after its driver lost control while being chased by police. Photo / Neil Mackay

An Auckland man driving a new $110,000 BMW came within centimetres of being decapitated yesterday when a police chase ended in a spectacular crash.

Police say the man was lucky to escape with minor injuries when the Toyota Vista they were chasing smashed into the Series 5 BMW, rolling over the top of it and landing on its side against the railings of the Market Rd rail overbridge in Newmarket.

The driver of the Toyota turned off the Southern Motorway at the Market Rd offramp and clipped a traffic light island kerb.

The impact propelled his car into the air, and into the oncoming BMW.

The two people in the Toyota ran from the scene but were caught soon after by an off-duty police officer with help from people nearby.

Police began the pursuit on the motorway about three minutes before the 11am crash after a call from a person saying the Toyota was being driven dangerously and at speed.

Inspector Christopher Tait, of the police northern communications centre, said the pursuing officers were about 500m behind the Toyota and had lost sight of it when it crashed. He said the pursuit had not been called off.

Sergeant Stu Kearns of the Waitemata serious crash unit told the Weekend Herald the crash came "within an inch either side of killing the drivers of both vehicles".

"If the BMW was slightly - another inch - forward it would have probably taken his head off."

The driver of the Toyota was taken away for alcohol breath tests, but Mr Kearns did not know the outcome.

He said the Toyota could also have flipped over the overbridge on to railway lines below.