POLICE used a helicopter and dogs to search for the occupants of a stolen car after it was abandoned in a Yorkshire Dales village.

Police spotted the red Mitsubishi Shogun near Askrigg, in Wensleydale, at about noon on Friday.

The vehicle, which had been stolen from Kirkbymoorside on the North York Moors, was followed by officers before it was abandoned in a gateway.

North Yorkshire Police said it used a helicopter and police dogs to search for the occupants but they were not found.