Drunk driver speeds the wrong way along M4 motorway for up to 30 MILES

The moment drunk driver speeds the wrong way along M4 motorway for up to 30 MILES as motorists swerve out of the way to avoid head-on collision

  • James Brennan was sentenced for dangerous driving at Swansea Crown Court
  • On November 28 he travelled almost 30 miles the wrong way down the M4 
  • Brennan had been three times over the drink-drive limit when he was caught 
  • He avoided head-on collisions with cars, vans and HGVs travelling at 85mph  

This is the horrifying moment a drunk driver speeds the wrong way along the M4 motorway for 30 miles with frightened motorists swerving out of the way to avoid head-on collisions.

James Brennan, who had lost his own sister in a car accident as a teenager, was three times over the drink-drive limit when he was eventually caught by police after nearly being involved in several crashes, a court heard.

Police received a number of reports of a silver Renault Megane car heading westbound on the M4, near the Cardiff West junction, travelling on the wrong side of the road.

Travelling at speeds up to 85mph just after midnight on November 28 this year, Brennan only avoided nasty head-on accidents because of the quick reactions of other drivers on the motorway.

James Brennan (pictured), who had lost his own sister in a drink-driving accident as a teenager, was three times over the drink-drive limit when he was eventually pulled over by police after nearly being involved in several head-on collisions, Swansea Crown Court heard

Police officers were forced to launch a major operation to try stop the driver, with a fleet of nine police cars shadowed the Renault as it barrelled along the motorway, using blue lights to warn other drivers of the danger.

Unable to flag him down, the cops released a ‘stinger’ device that deflated the Megane’s tyres.

He continued to drive as his tyres were delating before stopping on Briton Ferry Bridge, where he refused to get out and speak to officers.

Swansea Crown Court heard police were forced to use batons to smash the Renault’s windows.

When Brennan finally did get out of his car, Prosecutor Dean Pulling said he smelled of alcohol and urine, wearing wet trousers.

He ‘struggled to get his leg over the central barrier’ while he was taken to the police car.

Brennan’s Renault car came head-to-head with several cars, vans and HGVs as he travelled almost 30 miles on the M4 on the wrong side of the road

A roadside breath test found he was three-times over the drink drive limit but failed to complete further evidential tests at Swansea Central police station after he was ‘extremely aggressive’ towards a female officer conducting the test.

He later told officers that he remembered nothing between leaving the pub and waking up in a prison cell.

At Swansea Crown Court, Prosecutor Dean Pulling told Swansea Crown Court, that Brennan almost came head-to-head with a number of cars, vans and lorries, who successfully scrambled out of the way.

At one point he was even heading towards two HGVs that were driving parallel to each other on a two-lane stretch of the motorway, Wales Online reports.

The weather conditions were rainy, with water on the carriage way and patches of fog in some parts.

Upon sending Brennan to prison for a year, a judge told him he did not know how he was still alive. Pictured: Brennan travelling the wrong way down the M4 near Cardiff

Interviews ‘much later’ in the day found that Brennan had spent the day drinking Doom Bar beer, Guinness and Special Brew lager in Wetherspoons.

Upon sending Brennan to prison for a year, a judge told him he did not know how he was still alive.

The maximum sentence for dangerous driving is one of two years in prison, before any discount for a guilty plea is applied.

With a third discount given on his jail time, he was handed 12 month prison sentence.

He will serve half of that time in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

He was disqualified from driving for a total of two-and-a-half years and must pass an extended test before he can his licence back.

Brennan, from Maesteg, previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and to failing to provide a sample for analysis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Upon sending Brennan to prison for a year, a judge told him he did not know how he was still alive

His previous convictions included five offences including driving with excess alcohol.

Brennan, who is originally from Birmingham, also had cautions for assault and drugs matters from the Met Police in London.

Hywel Davies who was defending Brennan, who is training to be a counsellor, said there could be no mitigation and accepted it was a very poor piece of driving.

He said his defendant had no recollection of driving and when he was informed of what he had done, he thought of his own sister who had died in a car crash when she was a teenager.

Judge Geraint Walters said even though the motorway had been relatively quiet at the time, it was ‘quite astonishing’ that the defendant had effectively driven from Cardiff to Briton Ferry in the wrong carriageway without being involved in a collision.

He told him: ‘How you are still alive I do not know, I really don’t.’

The judge added the police had ‘done everything they could’ to avoid any crashes that night.

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