Police investigating a horrific head-on collision that claimed four lives in Bolton are examining a disturbing video clip that appears to show a car speeding at over 120mph in a built-up area the night before the fatal smash.
Fatal Collision and Social Media Footage
The tragedy occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning on Wigan Road. A Seat Leon, carrying three teenagers, collided head-on with a private hire Citroen C4 Picasso. All three teenagers and the taxi driver, 54-year-old Masrob Ali, suffered fatal injuries. Five passengers from both vehicles were taken to hospital, with a 29-year-old woman in the Citroen sustaining potentially life-threatening wounds.
Detectives are now scrutinising a 29-second video, understood to have been uploaded to Instagram by one of the deceased teenagers. The footage, filmed around 3am on Saturday, shows a car believed to be a Seat Leon weaving through traffic on a residential street at shockingly high speeds. At one point, the camera pans to the digital speedometer displaying 122mph. The road has a 30mph limit.
Community Grief and Long-Standing Safety Fears
The crash has devastated families and ignited anger in the local community, where residents say they have pleaded for traffic-calming measures for years. A family friend of one of the dead teenagers described the online video as "stupid" and "crazy," saying the boy's father was "absolutely broken."
Locals report collisions on Wigan Road "every couple of months." One resident, a married father, stated: "With the amount of accidents there have been over the last four or five years, we said it was only a matter of time before a tragedy like this happened." They claim authorities previously said statistics did not justify interventions like speed cameras, as earlier incidents did not involve serious injury.
Debris from a pre-Christmas crash outside a primary school, just hundreds of yards from Sunday's scene, remains visible, with a partially collapsed wall nearby.
Victims and Ongoing Investigation
Police have formally named the three teenagers who died as Mohammed Jibrael Mukhtar and Farhan Patel, both 18, and Mohammed Danyaal, 19. Taxi driver Masrob Ali, 54, a father-of-four described by his family as a "safe" and "kind" man, also lost his life.
His daughter, Humayra Ali, 29, told the Daily Mail her father was "the kindest man" and that the family was clinging to the belief the collision was not his fault. CCTV footage appears to show the Seat travelling at high speed on the wrong side of the road before the impact.
Detective Inspector Andrew Page of GMP's Serious Collision Investigation Unit urged the public to be mindful of sharing footage online, warning it could cause further distress and may constitute a criminal offence. He appealed for witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to come forward.
The incident echoes previous warnings from police about a deadly social media craze of posting speeding videos. In 2022, former Hollyoaks actress Frankie Jules-Hough was killed by a driver filming himself at 123mph on the M66.
As floral tributes accumulate at the scene, residents are demanding immediate action. A local mother warned: "If they don’t sort something out, I fear more lives will be lost." Bolton Council has been approached for comment regarding future road safety measures.
