It took two spike belts and 15 kilometres to take the steam out of a truck thief’s flight from police through Nanaimo late Tuesday.

At about 10:45 p.m., Mounties spotted a 1995 Dodge Ram pickup on Haliburton Street that was reported stolen from Brooks Landing several hours earlier. When they signaled the driver to pull over, he sped off.

Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said because of weather, road conditions and the fact the truck was travelling through residential areas, police broke off the pursuit and monitored the truck from a distance.

Instead of slowing down, though, the driver hit speeds of more than 100 km/h and nearly collided with other vehicles.

Mounties managed to deploy a spike belt at Needham and Nicol streets which flattened one tire on the truck, but the driver continued through south Nanaimo.

A second spike belt on 10th Street flattened a second tire, but the driver again ducked into a residential neighbourhood and sped off.

In spite of two flattened tires, the suspect’s flight from police ultimately covered 15 kilometres and led down Fitzwilliam Street, through downtown Nanaimo and finally ended when the truck ran into a ditch at Victoria Road and the Island Highway.

When police arrested the suspect, their search turned up a screwdriver used to steal the truck, plus crack cocaine and what appeared to be a note that could be used in a bank robbery.

“I won’t tell you what the note said, but from the wording it looked like it could be used as part of planning for a bank robbery or one that had already been committed,” O’Brien said. “We’re checking with police departments on the Lower Mainland as part of the investigation.”

Avery Richard McGuire, 27, from the Lower Mainland but of no fixed address, appeared in Nanaimo provincial court Wednesday to face charges of possession of stolen property, possession of crack cocaine, dangerous driving, causing a pursuit and breach of probation from previous charges on the Lower Mainland.

McGuire was held in custody until his next court appearance July 22.

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