A SUSPECTED DRINK-driver sped through motorway roadworks before ramming into a police car and crashing into a ditch in Hampshire last night.

Police were alerted after the blue Vauxhall Astra was spotted driving dangerously along the westbound M27 near Southampton in rush-hour traffic just after 6pm.

One witness told police they had seen a beer can being thrown from the car as it sped along the carriageway near Rownhams Services.

Police said the Astra crashed into roadwork cones along the motorway, scattering them all over the lanes.

The driver of a British Gas van reported that one cone had hit his vehicle and ruptured the radiator.

Two police cars tried to stop the Astra, which had been stolen from outside a Salisbury pub on Sunday, but it rammed one of them from behind, causing some damage.

The police pursuit was then called off by staff in Hampshire's force control room, leaving officers following the stolen car from a safe distance along the A31 with their blue lights switched off.

At Emery Down, the driver missed a junction and lost control - plunging the Astra into a 4ft-deep ditch about 10ft from the road.

All three people inside the car were arrested at the scene.

Hampshire Police spokeswoman Susan Rolling said the 34-year-old driver, from Salisbury, had been detained on suspicion of driving with excess alcohol, driving while disqualified and taking without consent.

The two passengers, a 22-year-old of no fixed address and a 24-year-old from Salisbury, were arrested on suspicion of theft after computer equipment was found in the car.

All three men were being quizzed at Lyndhurst police station today.