Man in van charged over Vic freeway chaos

A man faces a string of charges after allegedly ramming other vehicles in banked-up traffic as officers on foot, with guns and Tasers drawn, tried to arrest him.

Police twice tried to stop an allegedly stolen van in Broadmeadows just after 11am on Sunday before opting to use the police air wing to follow the vehicle as it entered the Tullamarine Freeway, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

A police car approached as the van stopped in heavy traffic on the freeway in Brunswick West.

Police officers from the car sneaked up on the van and deployed stop sticks before trying to arrest the man.

"The van took off and collided with numerous vehicles as it forced its way through the built-up traffic," police said.

"The stop sticks were deployed and the van disabled."

The man was arrested and police allege the van was carrying a large amount of property from recent burglaries.

No one was hurt, but the resulting crashes caused a further traffic snarl on the freeway for more than an hour.

A 24-year-old Broadmeadows man was charged with 12 counts of reckless conduct endangering serious injury, four of evading police, four of unlicensed driving, two of burglary, two of theft and one of theft of a motor vehicle.

He faced an out-of-sessions hearing at Broadmeadows police station, where a bail justice remanded him in custody to appear in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court on Monday.