POLICE have defended their actions after two teenagers from North Yorkshire sparked a massive armed response - by wearing Wild West fancy dress and carrying a toy pistol.

Students Holly Spedding and Fatima Rupp, both 19, of Harrogate, were returning home from a cowboys and indians night at Chester University at about 3pm on Tuesday when the drama started.

As they travelled in Holly's Fiat Punto along the M62 the pair, dressed as cowgirls, joked with lorry drivers by pretending to shoot them with the toy gun.

Fatima told a national newspaper: "The lorry drivers were pretending to shoot me with their fingers.

"So I pointed the toy gun back at them. Everyone was smiling and laughing.

"Some were even pretending to die and shouting Bang, bang!' at us."

But a passing off-duty officer from Greater Manchester Police spotted the girls and reported them for threatening drivers.

They were then chased by half-a-dozen police cars from the force and West Yorkshire Police before leaving the motorway at Junction 25 and stopping in a Tesco car park at Brighouse.

Fatima said: "We chose Tesco's car park to stop because there are lots of people around and we thought if they were armed they might be a bit more careful with all the public there."

There, they were surrounded by police 4x4s, marksmen and dogs while a helicopter hovered overhead, before being arrested.

Holly said: "We were petrified when we stopped and they came screeching up and surrounded us.

"There were four jeeps, two vans full of dogs, armed police, helicopters and they were screaming Where's the gun?' Fatima said: "I completely froze and was too scared to move an inch in case they shot me.

"I had a gun pointed in my face. Half the car park was full of policemen and I just kept saying Sorry' and that the gun was a toy."

Holly said: "The off-duty officer was the only one to report us - nobody else did. Everyone else realised it was a bit of fun."

But a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police defended the force's actions, saying: "Whilst this was ultimately not a serious incident, when the police receive reports of guns being pointed at people we have a duty of care to the public and to our officers to take firm action and that means responding with armed officers.

"Imitation weapons are difficult to distinguish from the real thing, especially at distance, so the message is clear - to avoid being faced with the real thing, don't mess about with imitation weapons in public."

Fatima was cautioned for possessing an imitation firearm and Holly was released without charge.