A man was arrested after a crash on the M6 involving a suspected stolen car that drew firearms officers, a dog unit and the National Police Air Service to the motorway early Thursday. Two men had already run from the wreck near Stafford services after the blue Audi S3 hit a lorry.
Staffordshire Police said they were called at 04:50 BST by West Midlands Police colleagues after the Audi was reported stolen in West Bromwich by two men with a machete. Officers later spotted the vehicle heading northbound between junctions 12 and 13, before it crashed near Stafford services and set off a major response across the motorway network.
The lorry driver was taken to hospital by ambulance after the collision. The man who was arrested was checked over by paramedics before being detained by West Midlands Police, while the two other men who fled on foot were being sought after the crash.
The incident caused disruption on one of England’s busiest roads at a time when many drivers were already facing Thursday morning travel. Parts of the motorway between junctions 14 and 15 were closed for several hours, with lane closures also in place between junctions 13 and 14. National Highways said delays of two hours were expected while the scene was being cleared.
That response went beyond a routine crash investigation because the car was linked to an earlier theft involving a machete, and because police believed the men inside were still nearby. Firearms officers and a police air unit were sent in as a precaution while search teams worked around the motorway, turning a stretch of road traffic into a fast-moving manhunt.
National Highways later said specialist contractors were called to treat a large fuel spillage and inspect a barrier damaged in the collision. The motorway has since reopened, but the sequence of events leaves a clear picture of what officers were dealing with: a stolen car, a lorry crash, two men on the run and a major clean-up on the M6 before daybreak. For drivers, the scene that began with a sighting between junctions 12 and 13 ended only after hours of closures, checks and recovery work.
