{"id":377911,"date":"2026-01-19T03:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T03:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/377911\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T03:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T03:47:12","slug":"driver-abandons-bmw-on-tram-track-leaving-smell-of-booze-from-the-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/377911\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver abandons BMW on tram track – leaving ‘smell of booze’ from the car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three people were seen walking away from the vehicle<\/p>\n

15:31, 18 Jan 2026Updated 15:58, 18 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three people were seen walking away from the car(Image: Councillor Alan Good)<\/p>\n

A BMW was abandoned on a Metrolink<\/a> tram track, sparking two hours of travel chaos in Greater Manchester. Services were suspended on the Ashton<\/a> line, with no trams running between the Tameside<\/a> town and Manchester Piccadilly earlier today (January 18).<\/p>\n

Twelve stops were out of service through Tameside and east Manchester as a result. A blue BMW 3 Series came to a stop on the tracks between New Islington tram stop and the tunnel which leads to Manchester Piccadilly.<\/p>\n

Witnesses reported seeing the vehicle being abandoned. An image from the scene shows three people walking up the track, away from the BMW and towards New Islington.<\/p>\n

Multiple witnesses also reported a ‘strong smell of alcohol’ coming from inside the car. Greater Manchester Police<\/a> has been approached for further details.<\/p>\n

Ancoats and Beswick councillor Alan Good witnessed the BMW heading down the track, before coming to a stop. He said: “I was at my local tram stop in New Islington and a BMW just drove down the tram tracks.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A car on the tram tracks near New Islington tram stop.(Image: Jason Roberts \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

“It obviously stopped because of the drop, might have busted a tyre. No way it’s getting out without getting towed.”<\/p>\n

Recovery workers later attended the scene, with the car removed from the track by 12.30pm. Trams soon resumed with ‘severe delays’, which have since cleared.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police told the M.E.N. it is understood a car drove up the tracks and broke down. Officers attended and are now making keeper enquiries to find owner.<\/p>\n

There are no reported injuries and no arrests made. The vehicle was removed by TFGM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three people were seen walking away from the vehicle 15:31, 18 Jan 2026Updated 15:58, 18 Jan 2026 Three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,924,59,3774,143702,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-377911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-metrolink","12":"tag-new-islington","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}