Police helicopter chased car going wrong way on A38 . . .

___________________________________________________________________

Police helicopter chased car going wrong way on A38

Cited at:

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Police-chopper-chased-car-going-wrong-way-A38/story-20918207-detail/story.html

The police helicopter tried to warn other drivers

A motorist drove the wrong way along the A38 as a police helicopter hovered over the road shining a light on the car in a desperate bid to warn other drivers.

There were several near misses as the driver headed along the wrong carriageway as it weaved in and out of oncoming traffic on the Devon Expressway at night.

The airborne police team tracked the vehicle with a powerful light beam, as it went the wrong way from Plymouth to Exeter, in order to warn drivers coming in the opposite direction.

Officers finally stopped the vehicle near Exeter just before midnight on Friday after it was spotted going east on the westbound carriageway of the A38.

Dozens of shocked drivers were lucky to escape unharmed with no collisions reported depsite a string of near misses.

The helictopter tracked the car from Ashburton to Chudleigh, where it was stopped by police from Newton Abbot.

The crew tweeted: "Deployed to A38 Ashburton reference vehicle on wrong carriageway.

"Able to illuminate vehicle to warn others. Vehicle stopped at Chudleigh."

Duty Inspector Adrian Woon later said: "We received a number of calls from members of the public after two to three near misses while the vehicle was travelling northbound in the south bound carriageway.

"There are reports it was in lane three which is the fast lane."

He said that the first alert came in at 11.30pm after the car was seen near the old racecourse near Buckfastleigh, Lower Dean and Drumbridges at Heathfield.

The driver was stopped at Chudleigh at 11.39pm.

One driver who was on the A38 at the time said: "I passed someone driving the wrong way down the A38 on my way back home tonight. Was rather surreal."

A 67-year-old from the Plymouth area was arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

About Driver CPC                                                                        easyCPC.com