QUICK-thinking police commandeered a golf buggy in their pursuit of a drunken man who took an angler hostage, holding a pair of scissors to his throat.

Officers chasing the man across Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, called for back-up and traffic cops Dave Oliver and Steve Heiniger responded.

Unable to reach the River Wear in their patrol car, they stopped at a nearby golf club and borrowed the buggy - travelling half a mile along the river bank as surprised golfers looked on.

PC Heiniger said the chase had been one of the most unusual experiences in his 23-year career in the force.

"Borrowing the buggy seemed to be the only way to get down to the river bank, but we needed instructions first from the golf pro on how to drive it."

The lengthy pursuit began on Saturday at around 5.15pm, when workers at a store in Front Street, Chester-le-Street, raised concerns over a man who had bought razor blades.

He was then spotted walking up the central reservation of the A167 road, slashing his wrists.

Police traced him to the nearby park and as an officer approached him, he grabbed a 31-year-old local angler - holding a pair of scissors and a metal fishing rod rest to the man's throat.

Officers tried to calm him and managed to distract him, allowing the angler to break free. The desperate man then leapt off the bank and waded into the middle of the fast flowing River Wear.

PCs Heiniger and Oliver, along with PCs Andy Guest and PC Mick Kirtley, formed a human chain and rescued him.

"Then we had to take him back to the car in the buggy with three officers restraining him and me driving. It was like a scene from Police Academy," said PC Heiniger.

Police said last night that a 20-year-old man from Houghton-le-Spring had been arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill, taking a hostage and possession of an offensive weapon.

He was later transfered to Cherry Knowle psychiatric hospital near Sunderland.