Police spent nearly two hours last night playing cat-and-mouse with a man who fled a road rage incident, ran onto train tracks and assaulted a railway worker.

The events unfolded when the man became involved in a dispute over road markings with another driver, at the junction of Main Road and Heath Drive in Gidea Park, at about 5.45pm.

After reversing into another two vehicles - bashing into the door of one and knocking the other into the front of a third car - he sped off from the scene.

An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said the incident escalated after a motorist had got out of his car and confronted the man about stopping in a yellow box at the junction.

“The guy who got out of the car was quite aggressive,” he told the Recorder. “Then the guy in the car, his wheels started spinning really fast, and he reversed backwards.

“The guy was a lunatic. He was trying to hit the man [who got out of the car]. It was by pure luck that he managed to get out of the way.

“He would have been killed if the car hit him. The guy looked really shaken up.”

The fugitive made his way onto the railway track at Gidea Park Station – assaulting a member of staff who tried to detain him in the process.

Met officers, along with British Transport Police, launched a search for the man, using a police helicopter to track him down.

MPS Helicopters (@mpsinthesky) tweeted at 7.41pm: “Suspect location [sic] and now in cuffs being led off the railway line.”

The 22-year-old was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm.

Did you see what happened? Contact the news desk on 020 8477 3903.