Seven Killed in Horror A66 Crash After Police Pursuit Was Abandoned

A devastating crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough, Teesside, in the early hours of August 22, 2026, claimed the lives of seven people after a Volkswagen Passat allegedly traveled the wrong way along the major road.

Police Received Reports of Dangerous Driving

At approximately 3:39 a.m., Cleveland Police received multiple reports of dangerous driving in the Middlesbrough area.

A Volvo XC60 was reportedly identified as having collided with or struck stationary property, while a Volkswagen Passat was also believed to have been involved in the incidents.

Investigators later found that both vehicles were allegedly using cloned registration plates, according to information presented during the investigation.

Police Pursued the Volkswagen Passat

Officers began pursuing the Volkswagen Passat after it was identified.

The vehicle subsequently entered the A66 traveling against the direction of traffic.

According to information presented during the investigation, police abandoned the pursuit after the Passat began driving the wrong way along the road.

However, only around 10 seconds after the pursuit was terminated, the Passat continued traveling in the wrong direction and collided head-on with a marked police vehicle that was traveling correctly along the A66 near South Bank/Middlesbrough.

Importantly, the police vehicle involved in the fatal collision was not the same vehicle that had directly participated in the earlier pursuit.

All Seven People Were Killed

The catastrophic collision killed all five people inside the Volkswagen Passat and the two police officers inside the marked police vehicle.

The two officers were identified as:

• PC Matthew Blades, 37
• PC Tom Clough, 38

The five people traveling in the Passat were:

• Michael Robert Cahill, 23
• Jakub Matusiak, 23
• Makai Saddington, 18
• Theo Rae, 17
• Cole Robert Worthy, 17

All seven victims died at the scene.

The crash has since prompted scrutiny of the circumstances leading up to the collision, including the dangerous driving reports, the cloned registration plates, the decision to terminate the pursuit, and what happened in the brief period before the Passat struck the police vehicle.

Source: BBC