Lorry driver kidnapped by robbers

The lorry driver was released unharmed after his abduction

A lorry driver has been found safe and well after being kidnapped by robbers from a motorway service station.

The victim was hit on the head and bundled into a van by two masked men at Sandbach northbound services on the M6 in Cheshire on Wednesday afternoon.

A third man drove away his lorryload of L'Oreal beauty products.

The driver was found unharmed in Warrington later that afternoon and his lorry trailer was found burnt out near the M61 at Aspull, Greater Manchester.

The victim, from Nantwich in Cheshire, was returning to his lorry at 1415 GMT on Wednesday when he was attacked, bundled into a white Ford Transit van and tied with rope on the wrists.

His silver and blue DAF lorry, with white curtain-sided trailer and marked Francis Transport was taken with its load of 31 pallets. Their value is not known.

The driver was found unharmed on Alder Root Lane in the Wargrave area of Warrington.

The gang wore black woollen hoods and are described as white and unshaven. One spoke with a Manchester accent.