A 45-year-old man has died in a crash involving a car being followed by a police helicopter in Bristol.

A Vauxhall Cavalier was being tracked in an operation involving the Avon and Somerset force helicopter when it was involved in a collision with a taxi at the crossroads of Filton Avenue and Wessex Avenue at 2.30 BST.

The taxi driver was killed and a front-seat passenger in the Cavalier was critically injured.

There were two other people in the Vauxhall, which was suspected to have been involved in a ram-raid at a chemist's shop in Thornbury.

Complaints Authority

The helicopter was attempting to direct ground units to the scene when the collision occurred.

Errol Steadman, the taxi driver, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A front seat passenger in the Cavalier, a 17-year-old youth, was seriously injured and is critically ill in hospital.

The other two occupants of the suspect car, youths aged 16 and 17, were taken into police custody after receiving hospital treatment for minor injuries.

Police were not directly behind the suspect car at the time of the collision.

Police spokesman

They have yet to be interviewed by detectives. The scene of the crash has now been cleared and the vehicles involved taken away for forensic examination.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: "Police were not directly behind the suspect car at the time of the collision."

"They were some way behind. They were trying to get to it." The spokesman said the force had already referred the matter voluntarily to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA).

The force is already the subject of a PCA investigation following the fatal shooting of a Jamaican man in Bristol two weeks ago.

Foster Errol Thompson, 20, was killed in a late-night confrontation with armed police in the St Werburghs area of Bristol.