Car drives wrong way on A66 amid police pursuit, echoing fatal crash
Two teenagers arrested after incidents on the same road where seven people died in August.
A car was filmed driving the wrong way down the A66 in a stunt similar to a fatal crash in August that killed seven people, including two police officers. Two 16-year-old boys were inside the Renault Megane that fled police shortly after midnight last Wednesday. The vehicle hit street furniture before driving the wrong way down the A66, where a West Yorkshire Police officer arrested both teenagers.
This incident occurred just two months after seven people, including two police officers, died on the same road in Teesside. A Volkswagen Passat collided with an oncoming Cleveland Police car while attempting to evade officers. The officers, PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died at the scene. Five passengers in the VW—Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jakub Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, and 17-year-olds Theo Rae and Cole Robert Worthy—also perished.
Following the August crash, a broader police operation targeting organized crime has led to 50 arrests. After their arrest last week, one of the 16-year-old boys pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and disqualified driving at Teesside Magistrates' Court and is awaiting sentencing in November. The second boy was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and was released on bail pending further investigation.
The incident involving the Renault Megane was one of three occasions within a single week where cars drove the wrong way on major A-roads near the site of the August fatal crash. In a separate incident on October 12, a car fled police on Cambridge Road in Middlesbrough before turning onto Acklam Road and proceeding the wrong way down the A66 towards the town. Cleveland Police stated that an investigation into the driver of that car is ongoing.
Three days later, police responded to reports of a Volkswagen Passat driving erratically in Thornaby around 1 a.m. The car then drove dangerously against the flow of traffic on the A19.
Chief Superintendent Paul Richardson of Cleveland Police commented on the recent incidents, stating, "We have seen a number of incidents in the last week, including where two young people have risked their lives, and the lives of other innocent road users, by driving dangerously. Staggeringly, this has included some driving contraflow on our busiest roads in Cleveland. This puts people at immediate, serious risk of harm or even death."
Richardson added, "It is truly shocking to see drivers take these risks, and we want those people to know that we will come down hard on anyone who thinks this behaviour is acceptable, and we will use the full force of the law in identifying, investigating and prosecuting anyone who commits these offences. We do not want to see anyone else harmed as a result of this behaviour, and so I ask those people to please think twice before committing these extremely dangerous acts."
Cleveland Police, one of Britain's smaller forces, experienced significant resource strain in the aftermath of the August crash. Authorities feared a potential escalation into gang warfare as violence across Teesside was believed to be a reaction to the A66 collision. The local Member of Parliament, Andy McDonald, stated that his constituents felt unsafe while shopping, and former Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston described the town as being "on its knees." Hundreds of police officers were deployed to restore order in Middlesbrough, a city that, excluding central London, has the highest crime rate in England. Preston characterized Middlesbrough as England's crime capital, where criminals allegedly operate with impunity, and warned of threats including guns being fired at homes and cars ramming houses.