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.

Google funeral in Athy Co, Kildare for one of the lads funeral. Good to see there was no scrambler bikes but it had close to a million flowers, the floats and displays were covering the graveyard.

Weren't you posting earlier that 'it seems now that they're not travellers'? Why do that if you didn't know either way?

Ah, it's just a personal dislike of a word. I assume you respect other people's freedom to choose their own words then.

'I dislike the word "thug" because it lacks nuance. It's reductive and doesn't tell us anything about the details / degrees of criminality etc.'

Oh please. Who gives a fuck about nuance, it's what they were.

The only details needed are they were criminals and they killed police officers.

Of course I do? I just was saying that's one part of that post I didn't fully agree with.

And yeah - it seems - from what other posters are saying - that they're not travellers. It seems.

You missed the point.
Children who are hungry and have addicted parents don’t have plenty of opportunity. It’s hard to concentrate in school when you are smelly and starving.

Really? So why did you assert so confidently two pages ago (in response to a comment of mine) that they ‘weren’t travellers.’

You pick up semantics you don’t like but never seem to respond to people who have direct experience of the nightmare of living in the environs of these communities. You are lucky to be so sheltered.

I don't think ethnic minorities are the main beneficiaries of the double standards though.

If that were true then councils would not have to waste millions on special provision for ethnic minorities and their 'cultures', we would all be treated the same. I've lived in other counries, never have I used 'culture' to get a leg up. Decisions are far too often skewed because of community 'sensitivity'.

This is the crux of all of it. As a society we’re held more accountable over ownership of pets, TVs and cars than we are children.

From the group in Ireland, which is most likely similar to the group in the UK involved in this trend, they’re white boys who come from working class areas, a lot of travelling people live in these areas, they’ve mix, they’ve become a gang, they’re poor working class white lads.

I agree that there needs to be greater opportunities but I think what we’re facing is a group in society who do not want jobs, who do not want to be functioning members of society. The parents are disinterested in education, disinterested in discipline and raising their children to know right and wrong. The children are being brought up with zero aspirations. It is scary to sit across from a parent who describes themselves as doing alright and has never worked a day in their lives and this is the lifestyle they’re selling to their children. And antisocial behaviour and criminality is just accepted and in some cases actively encouraged!

2020 https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2020/0226/1117793-traveller-ethnicity-day/ over half of traveller DC leaving school before the age of 15.

https://www.ucc.ie/en/news/2026/new-research-highlights-irish-traveller-experiences-of-racialised-inequalities-in-education-.html

Research from this year. Only 68% of Irish travellers children receiving early years education in comparison to 95% of the general Irish population and only 27% completing to leaving certificates level in comparison to 97% of the Irish population.

Less than 1% in higher education.

These articles state systemic racism and inequalities which I'm sure play a part but also ignore how traveller communities rarely respect or promote education and engage as little as possible.

dustabsorber · Today 11:41
If travellers want to fight each other; let them take their shirts off and get on with it.
As Phil Lynot said in Boys are Back in Town,
Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's bar and grill
The drink will flow, and blood will spill
And if the boys wanna fight, you better let 'em
Just leave the rest of us out of it.

Very well put dustabsorber. Though it is debated whether Phil Lynot was talking about Irish Travellers when writing the words to the Boys are Back In Town. It is said the song is about a group of Manchester 'Business' Men who ran the City between the 60s-80s and famously made the Krays stay on the train from London (though that story is also queried by senior Manchester Policeman of the time) . The 'Quality Street Gang' explanation does have some validity to that as Phil Lynot's mother Philomena had a well known hang out in Whalley Range for various well known Manchester 'Celebrities' around the time of the writing of the Boys are Back In Town !

Fireworks - great just what's needed with the countryside like a tinderbox.

This is absolutely horrific. We have to clamp down now before any more innocent people are killed. Two similar incidents in a few days.

Anyone caught speeding the wrong way down motorway/A road = life in prison. If that individual is a teen living with their parent/s = 20 years prison for parents, any remaining minor children removed from the home, home given to govt, along with any assets. Anyone posting a tik tok or similar of it = 20 years prison, all assets given to govt.

Of course, it won’t happen and more innocent people will die at random. Shit UK.

It feels a bit like the IRA bombings of shopping centres in the 80s. Random innocent people including children killed.

Wow that’s shocking. What a waste of an education.
I know the ones in my daughter’s school have been involved in a lot of issues.
A lot have been expelled and it is a naice school.

My two dcs live in Ireland and are on the motorway constantly to go to the airport. This terrifies me. The Gardai have recently begun training in pursuit at high speed in the UK but everyone agrees that it is next to useless as it goals the drivers even more. A skills snioer and a helicopter are what is needed.

Theres a picture of one of the lads giving the middle finger with angel wings and balloon spelt as baloon release. These families have zero empathy to the continued destruction these 5 lads caused over a period of time they were a time bomb waiting to go off. Even now when people have told them what scum bags they are they holding a public memorial to celebrate what amazing lads they were, without zero reflection on the chaos their actions caused. Unfortunately they didnt stand a chance with family like that they were dragged up, even with opportunities available this is generational ingrained into them, they live in the most poorest deprived council estates crime unfortunately is a way of life.

One of them was a dad to a 1 year old. And also a "Lovely down to earth young lad" FFS. Tone deaf tributes from the friends and family. Would love to know what these people crying on Facebook now did to prevent and discourage their "lovely lads" from stealing cars and going on police chases. After all, it was all documented on tik tok - not like they didn't know, is it.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16073051/Pictured-five-teenagers-killed-TikTok-joyride-crash-police.html

Businesses should absolutely be offering work experience to young people, but they aren't going to risk their businesses being turned over or to spend time and effort on some illiterate scrote who won't do anything. Why should they? The fault lies entirely with their parents for enabling this behaviour and encouraging their lack of education and criminality.

I don’t agree that this stuff didn’t happen previously. I’m in my 50s now, but 35 years ago when I was at school I knew 3 kids who were killed in car crashes (2 separate incidents). Ok they weren’t stolen cars and they had passed their tests, but teenagers can be shocking drivers.

This was in the West Country, not particularly deprived - being a shit driver in country lanes was enough to get them killed (never mind the wrong way up A roads).

I remember when boys died in a stolen car, being pursued by Police on the notorious (at the time, not now) Meadowhall estate in North Tyneside. This was in the 90s. The father of one of spoke to the TV. He was asked about his son joy riding. He was outraged by the suggestion, saying “he wasn’t joy riding. He was ‘on a job’ ,committing a crime”!

I worked with Scottish Travellers who were astonished and annoyed that I could understand what they were saying.

They were simply speaking the same Scots that my grandparents’ generation used to speak, not - as they imagined - a unique language.

Training the police to participate in these kinds of chase isn’t what’s needed. We need the army with whatever stuff necessary - tanks, guns, helicopters to just annihilate anyone speeding the wrong way down a major road.

Its been reported that they'd stopped the pursuit once the passat had entered the wrong side of the A66 and the police officers killed were not directly involved. So a helicopter wouldn't have made any difference.

One day they’ll have drones to sort them out.