A LORRY that was stolen at gunpoint in Worcester has been recovered following a tip-off.

Police found the hijacked lorry yesterday on a Telford industrial estate, but its contents - an estimated £250,000 worth of computer equipment - were nowhere to be seen.

The lorry-load of computers had been stolen after two men held up the driver near Junction 7 of the M5 on Friday night at about 9pm.

They bundled him, blindfolded, into the boot of a grey Vauxhall Vectra. He was released two-and-a-half hours later, dazed and confused, at Wootton Basset, on the M4, about 100 miles away.

The white articulated Volvo SL10, which had been carrying equipment belonging to Evesham Technology Ltd, was not found until four days later, when staff working on the Stafford Park 12 industrial estate reported it to police.

Police are keen to talk to anyone who may have seen the lorry pulling into the industrial estate, to establish when it was abandoned and if it was unloaded there.

"I would also like anyone who thinks they may have seen the lorry between 9pm on Friday and 10am on Tuesday to contact me," said Det Sgt Andy Price, of Worcester Police.

The lorry, belonging to logistics giant Amtrak, had been travelling along the A44 towards junction 7 of the M5, after picking up its final consignment from a warehouse on Vale Business Park, in Evesham.

Half-an-hour after it left the depot, two men in a grey Vauxhall Vectra, posing as policemen in fluorescent jackets, switched on red and blue flashing lights and pulled the truck over on the northbound slip road.

Staff at Evesham Technology said they were "gutted" when they discovered their loss, as the 250 stolen desk-top and portable computers having been hand-built to customers' specifications. They all bear the Evesham Technology stamp.

A spokeswoman said the company would be reviewing its security arrangements following the incident.

Anyone who has any information should call 01905 723888 and quote c/597795.