Bizarre footage has captured the moment a man allegedly stole a cherry picker before driving it near a council building.
The video, taken at around 2am on Wednesday morning, showed police vehicles on the scene outside Chadderton Town Hall in Oldham.
The clip shows a red cherry picker traveling along Middleton Road with its boom raised to full height as two people stand on the platform in pouring rain.
After appearing to tower over the city hall building, the driver moves the platform so that it is directly above the road.
Bizarre footage captured the moment a man ‘stole’ a cherry picker in Oldham, Greater Manchester
The red construction vehicle was driven outside Chadderton Town Hall
Two people stood on the platform that was raised to full height above the roof of the building
Police closed the road around the crash and arrested a man in his 30s on suspicion of theft and assault.
Bystanders are heard saying the driver “must have been sniffed out or something” and likening the robbery to “GTA five-star business.”
Other witnesses noted that the scene was “comedy gold” and “absolute madness.”
The thief, who was branded an ‘absolute muppet’, had told officers on the scene to ‘fuck off’.
Police were initially called to the incident which started on Russell Street and closed the road.
An officer was seen approaching people filming the incident and warning them not to post it online, to which they responded: ‘This is comedy gold this man.’
A man in his 30s was arrested on suspicion of stealing a motor vehicle and assaulting an emergency worker Oldham times reported.