A group of joyriders have crashed after driving the wrong way down the M50 in Dublin, just days after five teenagers were killed in a head-on collision on the M9.
Incident on the M50
The incident took place at around 3:30am on Thursday morning, the Irish Mirror reports, after officers first spotted the vehicle, believed to have been stolen earlier that evening, speeding down the motorway in Dublin's Ballymun area.
The vehicle did not stop and is understood to have driven the wrong way up the M50 before exiting the motorway and continuing to drive against traffic.
Gardai were told not to pursue the speeding vehicle, which was later found crashed and abandoned in the nearby suburb of Ashtown.
Investigation launched
A Garda spokesman later confirmed they have launched a probe 'following an incident of dangerous driving'.
'Gardaí on patrol responded to an incident of dangerous driving on St. Margaret’s Road, Ballymun, Dublin 11 on Thursday 20th August 2026 at approximately 3:30am,' the spokesperson said.
'The driver of the vehicle failed to stop for Gardaí. The suspect vehicle did not collide with any other vehicle. The suspect vehicle was subsequently recovered by Gardaí. Investigations are ongoing.'
Recent M9 tragedy
The incident comes just days after a group of five teenagers were killed in a horrific car crash after speeding down the M9 in a stolen BMW and colliding head-first into another vehicle carrying three women and a young boy.
Jeremy O’Brien, 18, and Alex McCarthy, 17 from Carlow; Jack Kennedy, 17, and Joey Carthy, 15 from Athy in Kildare, and Kamil Pustkowski, 17, from Limerick, all lost their lives in the tragic incident.
The passengers in the other car - a seven-year-old boy as well as sisters Niamh and Alma Kinsella and Ella Hendricken - all received serious injuries in the horror crash.
