Three teens bailed after car drives into Christmas market in Cheshire

A vehicle failed to stop and drove down a pedestrianised area causing alarm and distress to shoppers

Author: Dan DaviesPublished 28th Nov 2022

Three teenagers who were arrested after a car drove into a Cheshire Christmas market have been released on bail.

At around 3.55pm on Saturday 26 November, police asked the driver of a silver Volkswagen Golf to pull over on Mountbatten Way, Congleton.

The vehicle failed to stop and turned into Market Street and went on to drive down the pedestrianised area of Bridge Street while a market was taking place.

The incident caused alarm and distress to shoppers, but there were no injuries.

Three people were arrested nearby following the incident.

The three suspects, two 16-year-old boys and a 15-year-old girl, were all arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle and dangerous driving.

All three have since been released on conditional bail.

Cheshire Police say the incident is not being treated as terrorist related.

Inspector Jim Adams, of Congleton Local Policing Unit, said: “I understand the concern that this incident is likely to have caused in the local and I would like to reassure residents that this is not being treated as a terrorist incident.

“We will continue to have increased patrols in the area and I would urge anyone with any concerns to speak to an officer.

“The three teenagers who were arrested in relation to the incident have now been released on conditional bail while we conduct further enquiries.

“As part of our investigation we would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident and saw the occupants fleeing the vehicle.

“The same goes for anyone with any CCTV or video footage of the incident.”

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.