Watch as motorcyclist 'taunts' police in Leeds by doing wheelies next to them on city centre dual carriageway

The clip, which you can view above, was taken by Craig Harper while he was being driven with some friends on the A58 Westbound at 4pm on Sunday (March 26). It has been viewed over 300,000 times since he shared it on Facebook.

The two-minute clip shows a man on a motorbike performing wheelies and other tricks and gesticulating towards a police car, while Mr Harper and his friends laugh at the man “giving it the big’un”.

West Yorkshire Police has said that pursuits of motorbikes can only be done by officers “trained to the required level and in a suitable vehicle” and that a pursuit has to be “appropriately assessed”. They have also released a picture of the motorcyclist and appealed for information.

Mr Harper said that he and his friends were on their way to the pub when they spotted the motorcyclist. He said: “The way he was taunting the coppers. I couldn’t believe it. It beggars belief. We were praying they would pull him over or he would come off the bike. It would’ve been a case of ‘serves you right’.

"We’d been playing pool and it hadn’t been a fantastic afternoon but that really cheered us up.

"It’s mad that they could just stand back and not be able to pull him over for policy reasons or whatever. The guy on the bike obviously knew that.”

He said that the day after posting the video his son called him to say that it had gone viral, adding: “I’m like ‘what do you mean?’ Has it got Covid?

"I thought a few people would enjoy it but it’s gone a bit crazy.”

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: “The pursuit of motorbikes is permitted in West Yorkshire only by officers trained to the required level in a suitable vehicle.

“Any potential pursuit situation must be appropriately assessed with full consideration given to the safety of members of the public, the officers involved and the rider of the motorbike.

“We are still looking into the circumstances of this incident, but we have been able to establish that the officer involved had activated body-worn video to capture footage of the suspect and the manner of driving, before making a deliberate tactical decision to deviate from their route to de-escalate the risks around a situation involving a rider who was clearly already driving dangerously and had a high probability that he would fail to stop.

“We are aware of the level of public concern that motorbike-related crime and anti-social behaviour causes in our communities and continue to target the issue through a range of proactive operations, alongside our partner agencies.

“We are carrying out enquiries to identify the rider involved in this incident and would ask that anyone who recognises him or who has any information that could assist contact officers via 101 quoting reference 13230173212 or online at www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101livechat.”