Police have explained why one of their officers parked a police vehicle in a disabled space at the Aldi store in Scar Lane in Milnsbridge.

They responded after a member of the public tweeted a photograph of the incident which lead to more than 40 comments some of which questioned what the police were up to.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Thank you to everyone who has made us aware of this post.

“The reason the police car was parked in the disabled space at Aldi today was due to the officer attending a 999 call about a violent and aggressive shoplifter who was threatening staff and customers.

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“Rather than waste precious time driving round and round the car park finding a space the officer who attended parked the police car in the nearest available space so they could get inside and deal with the job.

“Contrary to some of the comments on the original post, the officer was not doing their weekly shop or buying their dinner... they were dealing with one of the many emergency calls we’ve had today.”