A man clung onto his car roof in his underpants in sub-zero temperatures for three miles after hearing a thief steal the vehicle from his drive in Norway.

The 25-year-old man was woken by the sound of his car engine starting outside his home in the southern town of Randesund, and leapt from his bed in time to clamber onto the roof.

After holding on at speeds of up to 60mph, and a temperature of minus 17C, he managed to smash the back window and force the thief to stop the car by colliding with a safety barrier.

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Hero: The 25-year-old woke up to hear his car being stolen in Randesund, Norway, and ran out in his boxers, leaped onto the roof and held on for three miles in -17 degrees, with the car going 60mph

He then smashed the back window with his knee and grappled with the thief before the car slid into a safety barrier on a bridge and came to halt.

'Bruce Willis wouldn't have managed that,' commented Jan Nesland, police chief in Randesund, a town in southern Norway where the incident took place.

'If you can break a car window with clothes on, its an achievement.

Legend: The man eventually got the thief to stop the car by breaking the window with his knee, forcing the thief to crash the car into a barrier

'Doing it hanging on to a car roof in just your underwear - in minus 17 degrees - while the car is driving at such speed, its just mental.

'It's not what we advise people to do but now he's done it, it's really an incredible story,' he told the television channel TV2.

Police are questioning the thief, who was reportedly already known to the authorities for other robberies.