A66 crash kills seven
Seven people died on a crash that occurred on A66 (Photo for illustration purposes only) Mike Bird/Pexels

Seven people, including two police officers, have died after a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way along the A66 near Middlesbrough collided with a marked police vehicle.

PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough were killed at about 3:39 a.m. on Saturday when their patrol car was struck. The five occupants of the Passat also died at the scene and were named by Cleveland Police as Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Jakub Matusiak, 23, and Michael Robert Cahill, 23.

The crash has also drawn attention to TikTok videos linked to Saddington that appear to show high-speed driving and a previous police pursuit. The footage has emerged amid wider concern about videos showing dangerous driving and police chases being shared online.

Police Were Searching For The Passat

Cleveland Police said the marked armed-response vehicle carrying the two officers was travelling on the correct side of the A66 when it was hit. Home security footage from Lime Road in Middlesbrough appears to show several police vehicles following a car shortly before the collision. The footage was reportedly recorded at about 3:36 a.m., around three minutes before the crash.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the two officers were not involved in the pursuit. They were in the area assisting other officers who were searching for the Passat when their vehicle was struck.

The IOPC has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash. Nicola Marfleet, the watchdog's director of investigations, said investigators were in the early stages of reviewing evidence.

Chief Constable Victoria Fuller paid tribute to PC Blades and PC Clough, describing them as 'brave officers' who had been protecting their communities and did not return home to their families.

TikTok Video Shows Previous Police Chase

A TikTok account believed to have belonged to Saddington contained a video showing what appeared to be a previous police pursuit in Middlesbrough. The video was published on 25 March 2025 and has since been deleted.

The 1 minute 34 second clip shows an Audi being followed by a police car with its blue lights flashing. BBC Verify said it had geolocated the route and found the vehicle travelled about 1km, with only the first 100 metres taking place on a road. The rest appeared to continue along footpaths and parkland in Ormesby.

A young person seen in the video appeared to be Saddington, with facial comparison software used by BBC Verify matching him to other images with a high level of confidence.

Another video from the same account appeared to show a vehicle being driven at 100mph, while a separate section showed a different car being set alight. The people in that footage could not be identified.

The previous videos do not establish a connection to Saturday's crash.

Concern Over Dangerous Driving Content

The crash happened days after five teenagers died in a separate wrong-way collision on the M9 in County Kildare, Ireland. They were travelling in a stolen BMW when it collided with another vehicle, seriously injuring several people.

That incident also prompted scrutiny of social-media content after reports that the teenagers had been filming themselves in the vehicle. TikTok declined an invitation to appear before an Irish parliamentary committee to discuss the spread of wrong-way driving videos, according to the supplied reports.

Professor Mary Aiken, a forensic cyber-psychology academic, has previously discussed how drivers can become focused on recording content and seeking online recognition while driving.

The IOPC investigation into the A66 crash remains ongoing, while the emergence of the earlier TikTok footage has increased scrutiny of how dangerous driving and police pursuit videos are shared online.

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