Head on crash
A Volkswagen Passat, containing five occupants was speeding along the wrong side of the A66 dual-carriageway between Grangetown and South Bank. The Passat, which was driving ‘suspiciously’, collided head-on with a police car containing two officers.
High speed pursuit
At 3:36am, a doorbell camera captured the VW Passat heading north along Lime Road in Teesville, with a police car in pursuit. The doorbell footage can be found in this BBC report. Cleveland Police have stated that the pursuit was abandoned shortly after it was filmed on Lime Road. The collision took place beween the Church Lane and Normanby Road junctions of the A66 at 3:39am. The map below shows the probable route of the Passat. The pursuit location has been identified by comparing the doorbell footage with Google Street View. Astonishingly, this journey took just three minutes.
Wrong place at the wrong time
The police car involved in the collision, a marked armed response vehicle, was not the one filmed on Lime Road.The two occupants of the police car, PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, were killed. Matthew was 37 years old; Tom was 38. The five occupants of the VW Passat, all thought to be males aged in their teens, also died. The males have been formally identified, but haven’t been named at this stage. As with all such incidents, the collision will be investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Cloned registration plates
The IOPC stated that Cleveland Police had been pursuing the Passat following reports of “numerous incidents” linked to it. The watchdog said the Passat was believed to be using cloned registration plates which activated an ANPR camera. Analysis of footage from one of the police vehicles showed the pursuit lasted just under seven minutes before the Passat travelled on to the wrong side of the A66, at which point officers “abandoned” it, the IOPC said. The pursuing officers continued to travel on the correct side of the carriageway but approximately 10 seconds later at about 03:39 BST, the Passat collided with the vehicle of PC Blades and PC Clough, who were “in the area to assist in a search” for the car, a spokesman said.
Has it happened again?
There are parallels with last Sunday’s ‘wrong-crash’ in County Kildare in Ireland. In that incident, on 16 August, a ‘suspicious’ car drove down the wrong carriageway of the M9 motorway, and collided with another car. All five male teenage occupants of the suspicious car were killed. However, that car wasn’t being pursued by the Irish police. And Garda Síochána officers, unlike their UK counterparts, aren’t trained in tactical pursuit. Two of the occupants of the innocent car were seriously injured, but nobody in that car was killed.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
On 19 August, the Irish police began liaising with Devon and Cornwall Police, and the UK College of Policing, to receive vehicle pursuit training. Would they have become involved in a chase on the M9 if they had had such training? It’s an awful decision to have to make. In the early hours of Saturday 22 August, Cleveland Police decided that such a pursuit wasn’t worth the risk. They had no way of knowing what would follow only minutes later.
A sad day for Cleveland
Later in the afternoon, a visibly upset Cleveland Police Chief Constable Victoria Fuller said it was an “incredibly sad day for Cleveland”, adding: “No one should leave their home and not return safely. These were brave officers protecting our communities and serving our residents who didn’t return home to their families at the end of their shift.” Fuller said she and her deputy chief constable had visited the officer’s families to “offer our condolences, support one another, and begin to come to terms with this unimaginable loss”.
Political reaction
Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey described the crash as “obviously a horrendous incident” and “very upsetting for everyone involved”, Mr Storey noted that he “couldn’t comment on the operational aspect of what’s happened”, and said that it’s “best not to speculate at this point”.
Local MP
Local Redcar MP Anna Turley said “My heart goes out to every family, friend and loved one now facing the most unimaginable loss following this morning’s devastating accident on the A66. Two of the seven people who have lost their lives were Cleveland Police officers, on duty serving our community. They went to work to keep people safe, and they should have come home to their families. Their loss will be felt deeply by their loved ones, fellow officers and right across the communities they served.
Tees Valley Mayor
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said “Our police officers are heroes who put everything on the line to protect us and I know all of Teesside will want to pay tribute to the officers and other emergency service workers involved for the bravery they have shown in responding to this incident.”
Social media ghouls
Only hours after the crash, images were being circulated on Facebook which purported to show the faces of the police officers involved in the incident. However, at the time of writing, Cleveland Police haven’t released any photos of the men. AI-generated videos of the incident have appeared on TikTok. These types of incidents can be very distressing for the families of the people involved.
A loss to the community
On Sunday morning, Seaton Carew Football Club paid tribute to PC Blades, known as Matty, who had recently joined the club as a coach and was looking forward to coaching his son in the Under 7s Seahawks team.
Fundraiser
A GoFundMe has been set up for Matty Blades and Tom Clough, with an initial target of £50,000. You can donate via this link.
Thanks to James Waterson for providing additional research for this article.
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