Police are appealing for witnesses after a man died on the M6 motorway.
At shortly after 9.00pm on Sunday 10th November police began to pursue a grey Ford Focus Sport on Preston New Road in Blackpool following an incident in Montague Street, South Shore where a man had deliberately driven his car at a woman resulting in minor injuries.
The Focus was driven on to the M55 reaching speeds of around 100mph. At one point the car was driven deliberately at an officer on foot who was trying to deploy a ‘Stinger’ to stop the car. He was not hit and was fortunately unhurt, but was left extremely shaken.
The Ford then continued on to the M6 southbound and during the continuing pursuit also collided with a BMW X5 police vehicle which then lost control and left the motorway ending up in an adjacent field. Fortunately the two officers in the vehicle only received minor injuries.
At this point police vehicles backed off and the police helicopter kept sight of the car.
The driver was then seen to collide with another vehicle, a Ford Mondeo, before stopping his vehicle on the hard shoulder of the M6 near to junction 28. He got out of the car and walked across the southbound carriageway and central reservation into the northbound carriageway where he was almost immediately hit and fatally injured by a car.
The deceased was a 33 year old man from Blackpool.
The motorway was closed in both directions for about 11 hours while the incident was dealt with.
The matter was referred voluntarily to the Independent Police Complaints Commission which decided that there should be a local investigation managed by Lancashire Constabulary. This is ongoing.
Sergeant Gareth Hill, of the Road Policing Unit, said: “The manner of driving during this pursuit was reckless in the extreme and it is only a matter of good fortune that no-one else was killed or seriously injured. I would appeal for anyone who witnessed the Ford Focus in Blackpool or on the M55 or M6 to get in touch with us.”
Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting log number 1400 of Sunday, November 10th.