Raheem Sterling Charged with Dangerous Driving and Nitrous Oxide Possession
Raheem Sterling will appear in court next month charged with dangerous driving and possessing nitrous oxide for wrongful inhalation after crashing his car into motorway barriers in May.
The 31-year-old, capped 82 times by England and once a mainstay of title-winning sides at Manchester City, crashed his Lamborghini into barriers on the southbound M3 near the Minley Interchange in Hampshire on the morning of Thursday, 28 May.
Police arrested Sterling at the scene and later released him on bail while officers continued their investigation.
The charges
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed the case will now go before magistrates.
A force spokesman said: "A driver will appear in court next month to face charges following a collision on the M3.
"Raheem Sterling, 31, from Berkshire, has been charged for the following offences: dangerous driving, possession of nitrous oxide for wrongful inhalation, failing to provide a specimen.
The charges come following a single vehicle collision, involving a Lamborghini, on the M3 southbound, close to the Minley Interchange [Hampshire], on 28 May, 2026.
No other vehicles were involved and no injuries were reported. Mr Sterling is due to appear at Basingstoke magistrates court on 15 September."
Officers had suspected Sterling of "driving a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs", but that allegation has not been included in the formal charges.
Back in May, a source close to Sterling told BBC Sport there was "no proof" of drugs in his system. The same source said the forward had endured "an extremely tough couple of years" and had been made to "feel worthless" and "forgotten about".
A career at a crossroads
While the legal case gathers pace, Sterling’s football career remains on hold.
He has been without a club since leaving Feyenoord at the end of last season, having joined the Dutch side in February on a short-term deal after parting ways with Chelsea by mutual consent.
Chelsea paid £47.5m to bring him from Manchester City in 2022. At City he collected four Premier League titles, five League Cups and one FA Cup in a glittering seven-year spell that made him one of the most decorated English players of his generation.
His move to London never truly settled. In 2024, the former Liverpool winger joined Arsenal on loan, but when he returned to Chelsea in 2025 he was frozen out of the first-team squad and told to train separately.
For England, Sterling’s record is already written: 82 caps between 2012 and 2022, three World Cups, two European Championships, and a central role in some of the national side’s most progressive football in decades.
Now, instead of Champions League nights or title run-ins, the next date in his diary is at Basingstoke magistrates court on 15 September.
