Police watchdog receive referral after chase ends in dramatic crash

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) have received a referral after a police chase resulted in a major crash in Prestwich.

The watchdog received the referral on Monday afternoon after the dramatic crash saw a huge emergency services response on Bury New Road on Sunday night (August 18).

The collision, said to have involved a Ford Transit van and two cars, came after officers had responded to a burglary in Stockport at around 8pm.

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The dramatic pursuit, which also saw police helicopters deployed, then ended in the crash on Bury New Road. No-one suffered any life-threatening injuries. Four people were arrested shortly after.

Due to the nature of the incident, Greater Manchester Police's Professional Standards Directorate began 'assessing to see if any referral needs to be made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct as part of normal procedure'.

The IOPC later confirmed to the Manchester Evening News that a referral had been made.

Pictures from the scene showed debris strewn across the road, including a traffic light which had been knocked over. A white Hyundai, a van and a badly damaged black car could also been seen within the cordon.

At the time, an onlooker said: "It looks nasty. It looks like a van has hit a car that was pulling out of Tesco. The door of the van has been ripped off and is wrapped around a lamppost. There's loads of police here and the helicopter was out for about half an hour.

"The road's closed in both ways from the motorway roundabout. It's causing loads of traffic problems."

Greater Manchester Police have been contacted for a full