An 81-year old Australian pensioner has had his licence revoked for driving the wrong way in the fast lane of the Citylink Toll Road in Melbourne for seven miles.

The video shows him driving what looks like an old Mercedes E-Class with a caravan, clearly oblivious to his terrible mistake. His action was caught on CCTV cameras operated by the toll road authorities, who closed the outside lane to traffic and mounted a vehicle blockade to try and stop the errant pensioner.Ronald Jackson had been driving for 63 years and had a clean licence. However, his lawyer said that he suffered a minor stroke shortly before driving, and that could have led to his confusion.

We can certainly sympathise with the very worried drivers heading in the correct direction. Last year, one of our team was in Italy when a newsflash came on the local radio. His Italian speaking partner said that there was someone driving the wrong way on the Turin – Mont Blanc motorway they were using, but she was not sure where or which direction they were talking about. The idea of going into an Alpine motorway tunnel and suddenly seeing a car coming the other way made their blood run cold. Fortunately, it turned out to be at the other end of the motorway and no-one was injured, but they had a scary few minutes.