Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Lorry performs U-turn on M6 toll motorway

The video, released by the Central Motorway Police Group, shows Leonid Papachin performing the highly dangerous manoeuvre in a 40-tonne truck on the M6 Toll in Staffordshire.
Motorway police, alerted by CCTV controllers, stopped the lorry a short time later and arrested Papachin.
The 51-year-old, who lives in Lithuania, was given a 15-week suspended prison term at Cannock Magistrates' Court last month after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.
The haulier, who was assisted by a Russian interpreter, was also ordered to pay £85 costs and banned from driving for 18 months.
Prosecutors told the court that Papachin had been working in the UK for two months when he committed the offence at around 5.30pm on Thursday October 23.

Source : Click Me

oops. looks like he has got disorientated on a roundabout with his Lithuanian driving head on. Drove in Holland for a week and following week was on holiday in the Fens turned out of a garage and almost onto the wrong side of the road with it being so flat. Momentarily thought was back in Holland.

This seems to be at Toll 5 Exit, Shenstone, Staffs., where southbound M6 (Toll) traffic exits for the A5 via the Toll Booths (off to the right of the video).

Looking at Google Earth, the booths stretch the full width of the roadway and each booth has a barrier, so it's unlikely he would have driven the wrong way through them without knowing. The railway bridge is only 100 yards away from the chevrons for the slip road, so not much stopping distance for those cars.

Therefore, it looks like he had taken the exit slip off the M6 toll and perform a U-turn infront of the toll booths to get in that position!!

Stupid and no excuse.

The one thing I can't figure out is how the police can justify the claim that he took up all three lanes of the motorway to perform the u-turn. It looks like one and a half to me, but that's one and a half too many.

Would you give this man a £100,000 truck to drive

I come home this way most Fridays, it looks like he simply took the wrong turning at the top of this road (it goes up to a very large roundabout with about seven turn offs). And then obviously papped himself when he got to the bottom!