UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos

On Saturday, PC Tom Clough, 38, and PC Matthew Blades, 37, died when a Volkswagen Passat, which officers had been pursuing until seconds before, collided with their marked armed response car on the A66 near Middlesbrough.

All five of the Passat’s occupants – Saddington, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Theo Rae, 17, and Cole Robert Worthy, 17 – also died.

A footageposted on the TikTok account believed to belong to Saddington in March 2025 showed him and four other young people involved in what appears to be a authoritiespursuit. The footagehas since been deleted.

The MediaVerify analysed the 94 second-long clip, which showed the car driving on footpaths and parkland in Ormesby, Middlesbrough, with Saddington a rear-seat passenger.

Another footageposted by the same account, also since deleted, appears to show a joyride where a passenger is smoking, with the speedometer showing 100mph.

Then, later in the video, a different car is set on fire. The passengers in this footageare not identifiable.

Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey said: “Without being able to say whether that was anything like involved in this case, it’s absolutely idiotic for anybody to be doing anything other than being completely 100% focused on the road when they’re behind the wheel of a vehicle.”

He told The MediaRadio 4’s Today programme that someone filming themselves or others driving dangerously is “absolutely ridiculous, and of course nobody should be doing that”.

“It is a worrying situation if that’s becoming more prevalent because it is incredibly dangerous”, he added.