Moment family in taxi is hit on their way home from airport by reckless driver who careers round corner on wrong side of the road 

Published: 09:50, 25 August 2026 | Updated: 09:59, 25 August 2026 Video captured the moment a reckless driver sped down the wrong side of the road and crashed into a taxi carrying a family on their way home from an airport. Footage shows a car hurtle down the carriageway in Benfleet, Essex in the early hours of Friday morning. The vehicle was sent flying after colliding with the taxi which was thrown onto the pavement as debris scattered across the road. The mangled wreckage of the speeding car can be seen in the aftermath of the crash with its windscreen smashed and airbag inflated. The driver steps out of his vehicle to inspect the damage as blood drips down his arms. Police said 'a number of people' including drivers and passengers in the vehicles were injured and received medical treatment. It is understood a family had been travelling home from Southend Airport in the taxi struck by the oncoming car. Essex Police said it has opened an investigation following the collision, which involved three vehicles and took place on Hart Road just before 1.30am. Footage shows a car hurtle down the carriageway in Benfleet, Essex in the early hours of Friday morning The vehicle was then sent flying after colliding with the taxi which was thrown onto the pavement as bits of debris scattered across the road The mangled wreckage of the speeding car can be seen in the aftermath of the crash with its windscreen smashed and airbag inflated A spokesman added: 'Our enquiries are ongoing to understand the circumstances leading up to the collision and we want to hear from anyone who has information or footage which has yet to be shared with us.' Anyone with information has been asked to submit a report on the Essex Police website or by using the Live Chat service. Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously by visiting their website or calling 0800 555 111. The incident came the day before a separate fatal collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way down the road crashed head-on with a police car. Five joyriders and two police officers died as a result of the crash on a dual carriageway, with police arresting nine men and three women, aged between 19 and 61. Cleveland Police received several reports of the Volkswagen Passat being driven dangerously. Separate reports involved a second car, a Volvo XC60, which was seen ramming properties in the Middlesbrough area. Both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates to avoid detection but were identified through the force's automatic number plate recognition system. PC Tom Clough died in the A66 crash, which occurred around 10 seconds after a police pursuit of the Volkswagen had been called off.  The five young men in the VW, which had just been chased by other officers when the crash happened, all died and were named as Michael Robert Cahill, 23; Jacob Matusiak, 23; Makai Saddington, 18; Theo Rae, 17; and Cole Robert Worthy, 17.  Four of those killed in the VW had extensive criminal records, including convictions for offences such as drug offences, assault and robbery. And the Middlesbrough crash came less than a week after a crash in Co. Kildare, Ireland, when five teenagers died in a head-on crash while driving the wrong way down the M9. A family in the other car – three women and a seven-year-old boy – were left seriously injured after the crash, when it is understood they were travelling to Dublin Airport to begin a holiday. Joe Carthy, 15, was the youngest of five boys who died when their car collided head-on with another vehicle while driving against traffic on the M9 in County Kildare earlier this month. He died alongside Jack Kennedy, Alex McCarthy, Jeremy O'Brien and Kamil Pustkowski, all aged 18 or 17. A seven-year-old child and three women from the same family who were in the other car are being treated for serious injuries in hospital.