Calls are mounting for a crackdown on drivers who film themselves performing dangerous stunts to gain likes and views on social media, after two separate tragedies in recent days left a combined 12 people dead. In one incident, PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed when their unmarked response car was struck head-on on the A66 in Teesside by a VW Passat carrying five men and teenagers, one of whom had previously posted TikTok clips appearing to show him taking part in police chases. In a separate crash in County Kildare, Ireland, five teenage joyriders died after their BMW smashed into a family's car travelling the wrong way down the M9, leaving three sisters with catastrophic injuries.

Defence minister Luke Pollard said the Government had ordered social media companies to remove such videos, while road safety campaigners warned that the pursuit of online attention was encouraging increasingly reckless behaviour. Becky Guy of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said "no amount of likes, views or online attention is worth the risk of death or severe injury," and Nicholas Lyes of IAM RoadSmart said young drivers often felt "invincible" and were increasingly filming and sharing dangerous driving content. The Irish crash also drew attention to the so-called "Lucky Dip" gang, a roughly 60-strong group of car thieves believed to steal vehicles for joyriding and to post footage online, while officials cited other recent cases, including the jailing of 21-year-old Liberty Mitchell for killing a taxi driver and passenger while speeding and filming herself on Snapchat.