Crash on A66 that killed two police officers and 5 others…

[bookworm1982]

Am I correct that the other victims were 5 lads travelling in one car the wrong way up the motorway? EXACTLY the same as the 5 Irish lads who died a few days ago travelling the wrong way up a motorway too? Surely not twice in a week? Is there some sort of mental social media thing going on, telling kids to drive up the wrong way? Like a dare? Just cannot believe it happened once, let alone twice. Just devastating.

It's awful. But the police have asked people not to speculate so we should respect that for now.

There’s been no announcement yet about the 5 people travelling in the Passat.

It’s unthinkable.

All occupants of both cars have been announced to have died- two police officers and five others, believed to be males in their late teens.

There’s no need to speculate. There are no mitigating circumstances for driving at speed the wrong way on a motorway.

I haven’t heard either way but hopefully not or is there some crack pot craze going round on TikTok like the teens starting fires!

I was replying to the OP’s comments about it being the same as the crash in Ireland. There’s been no official statement about them being teenage males at this point.

There was an interesting article in the guardian today about this "craze" with young drivers filming themselves driving at excessive speeds. If they get chased by the police even better for them and their followers on social media

“The BBC understands” and “believed to be” but they probably wouldn’t run this if they didn’t know it to be true.

(Attached photo may take a moment to approve).

The bbc have stated 5 males, late teens.

lets face it, car with 5 people in it, early hours of the morning, police pursuit, wrong way down motorway, statistically it’s not going to be a family on a trip out is it.

Ive read an awful lot of posts that all claim the car was definitely travelling in the wrong direction. I've also seen the photo released of the crash and the police car looks obliterated, well TBH both cars do. I cant imagine how that could happen unless it was a head on crash.
If it is true then the only people I have any sympathy for are the families of the police officers.

From bbc..

Around three minutes later, a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way on the A66 nearby collided with a marked police vehicle. PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough are confirmed to have died in the crash, along with the five occupants of the Volkswagen.

The BBC understands the officers had not been part of the pursuit, which was abandoned before the crash, and just happened to be in the area.

That definitely is the case, the police have said so.

Police statement
“The Passat was travelling the wrong way along the A66 and collided with a police vehicle that was travelling on the same road in the right direction.”

Get rid of thick tok.

The Irish Parliament asked TikTok to appear and they refused - there absolutely is a trend of late teen males filming themselves stealing cars and chasing gardai, certainly in Ireland. However I don’t think it’s like an ice bucket challenge or something, I don’t imagine ordinary law abiding teenage boys are going to start stealing cars if they weren’t already doing so

Rest in peace PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough. Unfathomable and devastating for the families to have lost their lives in the line of duty

Wont say anything about those in the other car but I’m sure the police will be looking at their videos on their mobile phones

The person behind the trend needs to be locked up, as does every person who is encouraging it.

You say that about children?!

Apparently one of the boys was 13 years old.

Robbing cars and deliberately driving the wrong way down a motorway, killing innocent people. No sympathy whatsoever.

We don't know that any trend was involved yet. Twoccing and other criminal behavior have been around forever

It could be a coincidence of timing but if it is the same thing those killed are even stupider than they were last week

I can see the social media backlash going the same way as it has in Ireland

Yes, it's an absolute shocker isn't it. Seven dead.

Just the week before the crash that killed the five boys on the M9 in Ireland there was another crash caused by a wrong way on the motorway on the M50 (Dublin). Nine people injured in that one (eight on the stolen car - one in the car that was hit). Both in the same "gang" with posts on TicTok.

There's been plenty wrong way on the motorway before and after these two incidents here.

As above

' Rest in peace PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough '