ARMED police surrounded an address on Dickson Road in Blackpool yesterday where an armed man was thought to be hiding.

Drivers faced traffic chaos as police units moved in and sealed off the busy road between Banks Street and Pleasant Street at around noon. The road blocks lasted several hours, with armed units brought in to assist local officers.

During the operation, Inspector Norman Helsby of Blackpool Police told The Citizen: "There's been a fire arms incident and we suspect that the perpetrator may be in an address down there on Dickson Road.

"We have half emptied the premises and at some stage we will make a decision as to whether we go in or stand off."

He said today (Friday): "We had some information which led us to believe that the man we wanted was in a flat on Dickson Road. We did not search the flat. While all this was going on further information came in which led us to believe that the man was not there."

The operation was scaled down at around 4.30pm, and police later arrested the man on a motorway in Cumbria just before 2am today.