Shropshire Star

Chaos as elderly motorist drives wrong way on A5 and M54

Drivers have been praised for avoiding head-on collisions with an elderly man who drove the wrong way up the M54 and the A5.

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The man was seen driving westbound - towards Shrewsbury - in the fast lane of the eastbound - Telford direction - carriageway at 2.55pm on Wednesday.

West Mercia Police Force Inspector Mark Riley said the force had received "numerous 999 calls" about the driver, who was sighted travelling between Junction 7 for Wellington and the Preston Island on the outskirts of Shrewsbury.

"We were inundated with 999 calls," Insp Riley said. "We believe it was an elderly male, but we didn't get the number plate and the only description we had was that it was a black car.

"The man had gone into the fast lane of the A5, which going in the direction he was travelling would have been the slow lane. How people managed to avoid any collision is beyond me.

"We had numerous patrols from Telford & Wrekin and from Shropshire going to the east and west carriageways but we couldn't pick him up. We can only assume he got to the island or he's gone into a lay-by and turned around."

Inspector Riley praised the drivers who had encountered the car traveling towards them, and said the situation could have been much worse.

"Fortunately, and how it's not happened I don't know, there's been no collisions or near-fatal misses or anything like that," he said.

"We're so grateful for that, and for the good driving of the other people on the road to avoid a collision.

"I can't imagine how anyone coming head on towards him felt."

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