THE pursuit was hot, the ice creams were cold and the alleged crook was half-baked at best.

Like something from a comedy crime caper, an ambitious bandit allegedly stole a Peter’s ice cream truck this morning before leading a convoy of police cars on a slow-motion pursuit down the Pacific Highway.

Police said the man made off with the ice cream truck near Newcastle railway station about 8.45am, heading south along the highway to Lake Macquarie.

He allegedly made it to Belmont before police caught up to him, but refused to pull over when they hit their lights and sirens.

There began a half-hour chase south, averaging speeds of just 60km/h as more than 10 police cars joined in.

A police spokeswoman said road spikes were deployed “a number of times”, to the point where the van was barely riding on rims.

But it allegedly continued on its merry way, all the way to the suburb of Blue Haven where it drove into a residential area before the driver pulled up in bushland and tried to get away on foot.

He was arrested a short time later and taken to Wyong police station where he’s helping detectives with their inquiries. Charges are expected to be laid this afternoon.

Thankfully, there were no casualties: “The ice creams were OK,” the police spokeswoman said.