Police were today continuing their hunt for thieves who kidnapped a lorry driver, forced him into a car boot and stole his vehicle and valuable cargo.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Oxford Mail, the driver was ambushed on the A34 south of the M40 junction at 8pm on Thursday.

The 31-year-old driver was travelling southbound carrying £250,000 of Dell computer equipment when a car travelling behind flashed him.

The driver assumed something was wrong with his lorry and pulled into a layby near the Islip turn. When he got out, he was confronted by a large man wearing a balaclava who forced him into the boot of a car parked nearby. After being driven around, he was released at about 11.30pm near Kidlington and ordered to run away across fields.

As soon as the car had left, he flagged down a passing driver who rang police.

The driver, who lives in Wolverhampton, was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, for treatment to a bang on the head and was later discharged.

The front part of the lorry, which started its journey in Limerick and was bound for Madrid, was found abandoned off the M5 near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

The trailer and its cargo is still missing. Police are appealing for sightings of the vehicle.

Det Sgt Howard Berry, of Thames Valley Police, is appealing for help in tracing the computer equipment and the trailer which had an orange logo with the name Carna, an international transport company based in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

He said: "It was a frightening experience for the driver, who had no idea what might happen to him.

"It's a busy road - the hi-jacking took place while it was still light so a passing driver might have seen something suspicious in the layby."

Anyone with any infor- mation about the lorry or its contents should contact Kidlington Police on 01865 846955 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.