Police slam ‘completely unacceptable’ M6 drivers going unsuitable manner after crash

Lancashire Police have issued a stark warning after drivers were spotted travelling in the wrong direction on the M6 motorway near junction 34 after vehicles seen turning around and driving back up a slip road

Police have issued a stern warning about the ‘absolutely unacceptable’ behaviour of motorists who were seen driving in the wrong direction on the M6 motorway.

Motorists were caught reversing their direction on the motorway and heading the wrong way up an exit ramp on Sunday afternoon (August 23). This occurred during a collision on the M6 northbound lane near junction 34. While no one was injured, officers stated that the situation ‘could have easily been so different’.

Lancashire Police have identified several of the vehicles involved and pledged to take ‘appropriate action’ against the drivers. The police are now appealing for anyone with dash cam footage or mobile phone recordings of any other drivers who went the wrong way.

They warned that such reckless driving ‘can have utterly devastating consequences’, citing two fatal wrong-way crashes near Middlesbrough and in Ireland as examples, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Two police officers and five others lost their lives in a crash in Teeside early on Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat – which had been pursued by police – was driven the wrong way along a dual carriageway.

It then collided with a marked police armed response vehicle. PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were among those tragically killed.

Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak were also declared dead at the scene.

Following the incident, TikTok videos have surfaced showing one of the deceased men filming himself driving recklessly in the months leading up to the fatal crash.

This tragic event followed another accident in which five teenagers lost their lives on the M9 in Co Kildare after their BMW crashed while driving in the wrong direction in an attempt to evade police.

Three women and a seven-year-old boy in the other vehicle involved in the head-on collision were left seriously injured and hospitalised.

The full post shared by Lancashire Police regarding the M6 incident, which was posted on Monday afternoon, read: “We need to tell you about something that happened on the motorway this weekend, that is absolutely unacceptable. Shortly before 1:45pm yesterday, we received a report of a collision on the M6 northbound near to junction 34, and as a result, there were people turning around and driving the wrong way back up the slip road to avoid joining the motorway.

“Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt, either in the collision or due to this incident, but as we have seen in other parts of the country this weekend, these actions can have utterly devastating consequences. We have identified a number of those vehicles and drivers involved in the incident and will take the appropriate action against them.

“We know that there will have been a lot of people on the motorway or making their way the correct direction down the slip road at that time, who will have been lawfully going about their journeys. We need to ask for your help. If you have dashcam that covers the junction 34 slip road, and shows any of these drivers, or took mobile phone footage, it is really important that you get in touch, so we can see it.

“Being stuck in standstill or slow-moving traffic can be frustrating, we get it, but it is never an excuse to put the lives of those around you, and your own life at risk. Nobody got hurt yesterday, but that outcome could have so easily been different.

“We will not tolerate driving that endangers lives. If you have information or footage that can help us, please call 101 quoting log 0689 of 23rd August.”

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