Moment motorist drives the wrong way up busy dual carriageway on Boxing Day as cars swerve to avoid head-on collision
- Drivers had to swerve to avoid car going the wrong way on A road on Boxing Day
- The car was going the wrong way on the A303 near Andover, Hants at 6.48pm
- Nick Hodges narrowly missed crash as he saw headlights in the wrong direction
- But map reports suggest the car later crashed and locals think driver pulled over
This is the shocking moment a motorist drove the wrong way up a busy dual carriageway on Boxing Day – as drivers desperately swerved to avoid a head-on collision.
The near-miss happened at around 6.48pm along the A303 near Andover, Hampshire yesterday.
Drivers were left shaken up after narrowly avoiding the motorist who had managed to travel several miles in the wrong lane.
Nick Hodges was driving from Heathrow to Devon when he noticed headlights coming towards him.
This is the shocking moment a motorist drove the wrong way up a busy dual carriageway on Boxing Day at around 8.48pm
Nick Hodges was driving from Heathrow to Devon when he noticed headlights coming towards him
‘We were past the last Andover junction when there was this terrifying moment as my wife and I both realised that the lights ahead weren’t coming from the opposite carriageway,’ he said.
‘I slammed on the brakes and veered to the left which sent the car into a skid but fortunately stability control kicked in and I managed to correct it.
‘I’m so glad it wasn’t raining and that the lane next to me was empty – we’d only just passed a few cars so it could easily have been a disaster,’ Mr Hodges added.
Dan Greg was also forced to suddenly swerve out of the motorist’s path. He said: ‘[The car was] driving casually in the inside lane, last minute the car in front of me changed lanes quick then we saw oncoming headlights and swerved at the last second. It was very scary and unexpected. The fact they were driving so fast towards us was the scary bit.
He said: ‘I had a car full of kids and was just trying to stay calm and collected. I can’t imagine what everyone else driving past must have thought. A lack of concentration could have been deadly.’
The incident prompted a number of calls to 999 with some being placed on hold. Retired police officer Tom French struggled to get through to report the incident. His wife Jane was driving at the time.
‘We were past the last Andover junction when there was this terrifying moment as my wife and I both realised that the lights ahead weren’t coming from the opposite carriageway,’ said Mr Hodges
The car narrowly avoided missing Mr Hodges’s car and traffic app Waze has indicated the car going the wrong way later got into an accident
He said: ‘We were driving down the A303 westbound and we had a car coming towards us in the wrong direction. I tried to call 999 and was put in a queue.’
Others who narrowly avoided the driver shared their experiences on social media.
One man wrote: ‘I have just spent a lovely day with my daughter and granddaughter but I nearly didn’t make it home. Passing Andover on the A303 I encountered a car driving the wrong way down my carriageway. Thankfully I was in light traffic at the time.’
Another woman added: ‘We witnessed this. I was driving. [The motorist] passed us travelling in the fast lane – the wrong way – my stomach turned inside out and I felt sick. If anyone had been overtaking us it would have been a terrible accident.’
Hampshire Police has been contacted for comment. It is not known whether the motorist was arrested.
According to traffic app Waze, the motorist later got into an accident and reports on social media suggest they were later pulled over into a lay-by.
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