Police probe as several motorists seen driving wrong way on M6 following crash

Police have launched an investigation after several drivers were seen travelling the wrong way on a major motorway on Sunday.

Lancashire Police threatened to take "appropriate action" against the motorists, who are said to have turned the wrong way down an M6 slip road to avoid delays following a crash on the northbound carriageway near to junction 34.

Nobody was hurt but this "could have easily been so different", officers said. Lancashire Police said a number of the vehicles have been identified, Manchester Evening News reports.

Officers now want to speak to anyone who has dash cam footage, or mobile phone footage, of any other drivers who went the wrong way. Police said driving in this way "can have utterly devastating consequences" in light of two fatal wrong-way crashes near Middlesbrough and in Ireland.

Two police officers and five others were killed in the crash in Teesside early on Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat – which had been pursued by police – was driven the wrong way along a dual carriageway and hit a police marked armed response vehicle. PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, lost their lives.

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

This came days after five teenagers died on the M9 in Co Kildare when their BMW crashed while driving the wrong way. Three women and a seven-year-old boy in the other vehicle involved were left badly injured in hospital.

Regarding the M6 incident, Lancashire Police said: "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."