Moment man crashes after driving wrong way down M4 during police chase
A Swindon man who drove the wrong way down the M4 during a police chase has been jailed.
Reggie Reed initially stopped for police on the hard shoulder near junction 15 of the motorway but then quickly accelerated off, crossing two lanes of traffic.
The 21-year-old then performed a U-turn and attempted to start driving against the flow of traffic in the fast lane of the motorway.
Wiltshire Police officers have described it as the most dangerous manoeuvre they have ever seen on a motorway.
Police performed a tactical manoeuvre to stop him from causing harm to other road users.
Reed, of Kingshill Road, appeared at Swindon Crown Court on 14 January and was sentenced for dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to stop for police and driving without insurance.
The 21-year-old has been jailed for eight months and disqualified from driving for two years after the incident on December 13.
PC Luke Hobbs - who was the officer conducting the pursuit - said: "This was the most dangerous manoeuvre I have witnessed on the motorway, and stopping him from driving the wrong way down the M4 was my only option and something I did automatically.
"The consequences if I had allowed him to keep driving could have been catastrophic and I would rather risk injury to myself than put members of the public at risk."
Sergeant Will Ayres, from Wiltshire Police's roads policing unit, said: “Reed showed a complete disregard for the authority of the officers who were trying to stop him, and then drove incredibly dangerously and recklessly while trying to evade us.
“Not only did he fail to stop when ordered to do so by police, but he ended up driving the wrong way on a busy, dark motorway.
“It is only thanks to the swift action of the officers in question that Reed was prevented from causing serious injury to himself or the other motorists on that section of motorway.”