TWO would-be heroes smashed their way into a crashed car to rescue what they thought were passengers trapped in the boot – only to find the calls for help had come from a voice recording.

The vehicle is actually an art installation on show as part of Stoke-on-Trent's Conjunc+ion08 festival.

The good Samaritans broke a window in an attempt to access the grey Renault saloon, which is staged as though it has crashed into a tree outside Staffordshire University's Film Theatre.

But after getting into the vehicle, which was borrowed from a scrapyard, they realised there was nobody in the boot at all – just a recording of a voice calling for help.

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The multi-sensory installation is created by Glasgow-based Littlewhitehead and is designed to play with ideas of reality and fiction.

But the university will now ensure the audio track is turned off at night to save the energy of other have-a-go heroes.

Conjunc+ion08 is an arts festival organised by Hanley gallery AirSpace and funded by the Arts Council.

The five-week event showcases the work of 30 international, national and local artists.

Co-director Andrew Branscombe, of AirSpace, said that it was the second time work by Littlewhitehead had caused an extreme reaction from the public.

As a result of the New Contemporaries exhibition at the Liverpool Biennial, there were reports of visitors punching and kicking life-sized models of people wearing hoodies and balaclavas.

The 26-year-old added: "It is about bringing something abnormal into the everyday to change people's perceptions of the environment around them."

Mr Branscombe, pictured, said reaction had been good humoured. He added: "People are going up and working out that it is an art piece and coming away from it with a bit of a smile on their face."

A Staffordshire University spokesman said: "The exhibit parked up outside the university's Flaxman building in College Road is a deliberately provocative piece of work and it has aroused interest among students, staff and passers-by.

"However as we don't wish to cause anyone alarm, we have taken steps to make sure the voice recording contained in the vehicle is switched off at the end of each working day."

Littlewhitehead is Craig Little, aged 28, from Glasgow, and 23-year-old Blake Whitehead, who was born in Lanark.

The installation is due to remain until December 13.

The city council-backed Conjunc+ion08 festival will include talks, panel discussions and guided tours alongside the artists' displays.

Venues hosting the event range from AirSpace in Broad Street, Hanley, and The Victoria Hall and the Potteries Museum And Art Gallery in the city's Cultural Quarter, to the Bethesda Chapel in Bethesda Street and the BT Building in Marsh Street. Other venues include the Let Them Create Gallery at Lea House, Barlaston.