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Conflict & Security13 outlets ran this4 min read

Seven killed in A66 wrong-way crash; government urges TikTok action

Defence minister calls for removal of dangerous driving content following fatal collision.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
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What this story says

  • Seven people, including two police officers, died when a Volkswagen Passat was driven the wrong way on the A66 and collided with a police vehicle.
  • Court records show one of the deceased, Makai Saddington, was awaiting trial for alleged crimes against police officers.
  • Defence minister Luke Pollard has asked social media platforms, particularly TikTok, to remove content that appears to celebrate dangerous driving.
  • TikTok videos have emerged that appear to show one of the deceased, Jacob Matusiak, filming himself driving.

Who covered it

Left 46%(5)Centre 45%(5)Right 9%(1)

Percentages are shares of the 11 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 13 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

50/100

Craft

65/100

Hype

45/100

13 sources · methodology

Thin on the right so far

Only 1 of the 11 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

A collision on the A66 dual carriageway resulted in seven fatalities, including two police officers. The crash occurred when a Volkswagen Passat, which had been pursued by police, was driven against the flow of traffic and struck a marked police vehicle. The deceased include officers Matthew Blades, 37, and Tom Clough, 38, alongside civilians Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, and Jacob Matusiak, 23.

Court records indicate that Makai Saddington was awaiting trial for alleged offences including assaulting a police officer and causing racially aggravated alarm or distress. He had appeared before Teesside Magistrates’ Court on 17 July, charged with these offences. Reports suggest Saddington may have been involved in filming dangerous driving on TikTok prior to the fatal incident.

Defence minister Luke Pollard stated that social media platforms should remove content celebrating dangerous behaviour on roads. He indicated that the government would use powers in the Online Safety Act to compel platforms to take down such content if they did not self-regulate. Cleveland police and crime commissioner Matt Storey acknowledged reports of TikTok videos but urged against speculation. A fundraiser for the officers' families had exceeded £250,000.

Disagreement on the timeline of the police pursuit

The Northern Echo reported that the Passat was spotted and an armed response vehicle pursued it for just under seven minutes before it drove onto the A66 against traffic. It stated police aborted the chase and continued on the correct side of the carriageway, with the Passat crashing into the officers' vehicle about 10 seconds later. Breaking News stated the Volkswagen Passat, which had been pursued by police, was driven the wrong way along a dual carriageway and hit their marked armed response vehicle, without specifying the duration of the pursuit or when it was aborted.

What the coverage left out

None of the left, centre, or right-rated reports printed below mention the specific ages of all five civilian victims. The right-rated report does not mention that Makai Saddington was awaiting trial for alleged crimes against police officers.

Tags:#A66Crash#RoadSafety#TikTok#DangerousDriving#PoliceDeaths

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 2 times, most recently on 24 Aug 2026, 12:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

The scene after a fatal road traffic collision closed the A66 in South Bank near Middlesbrough.
Daily MirrorLeft

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

5 rated outlets

  • The left-rated reports led on the government's demand for social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos. Breaking News and The Independent highlighted that police officers were killed in the crash. The Daily Mirror's headline focused on the 'chilling joyride vids' and the government's demand. The Daily Record reported on TikTok videos emerging that appeared to show one of the deceased, Jacob Matusiak, filming himself driving.

Centre

5 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated reports focused on the government's instruction to TikTok to remove dangerous driving content following the fatal crash. The Northern Echo and Yorkshire Post highlighted the government telling TikTok to remove 'joyriding clips' or 'dangerous wrong-way driving trend videos'. The Manchester Evening News mentioned Andy Burnham ordering TikTok to delete 'awful' videos. The Evening Standard quoted minister Luke Pollard stating such content 'should have no place on social media'. The Star reported TikTok was urged to remove content of a deadly trend.

Right

1 rated outlet

  • The right-rated report from the Daily Express led on the Labour party breaking its silence on the 'awful TikTok trend' after the A66 crash. It stated that seven people, including two police officers, died in the wrong-way crash over the weekend.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Seven killed in A66 wrong-way crash; government urges TikTok action?
Of the 11 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 46% are rated left, 45% are rated centre, 9% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 13. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Seven killed in A66 wrong-way crash; government urges TikTok action left or right?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 11 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
Is the coverage of Seven killed in A66 wrong-way crash; government urges TikTok action biased?
Seven killed in A66 wrong-way crash; government urges TikTok action is one event reported by 13 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Seven killed in A66 wrong-way crash; government urges TikTok action?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Seven killed in A66 wrong-way crash; government urges TikTok action?
13 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
How many people died in the A66 crash?
Seven people died in the crash on the A66, including two police officers. The collision involved a Volkswagen Passat being driven the wrong way along a dual carriageway.
What action has the government taken regarding social media?
Defence minister Luke Pollard has urged social media platforms, particularly TikTok, to remove content that celebrates dangerous driving. He stated the government would use powers in the Online Safety Act to compel platforms to take down such content if they do not self-regulate.
Was any of the deceased facing charges?
Yes, court records show that Makai Saddington, one of the deceased, was awaiting trial for alleged crimes against police officers, including assault.
What is known about TikTok videos related to the incident?
TikTok videos have emerged that appear to show one of the deceased, Jacob Matusiak, filming himself driving. The government has specifically asked TikTok to remove content celebrating dangerous driving.

Read it at the source

13 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

5

Centre

5

Right

1

Not rated

2

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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