Forums Forums National News Pensioner gets caught on motorway

A 90-year-old pensioner had to be rescued from the hard shoulder of a motorway after he took a wrong turn on his electric scooter.

The pensioner was spotted joining the M27 and pootling along the hard shoulder at 5mph as cars, lorries and coaches roared past him at 70mph.

Shocked motorists called police fearing that the elderly man was in danger of getting mown down.

A man driving a 4x4 truck pulled into the slow lane and drove alongside the pensioner in a bid to protect him from other vehicles after he refused to stop.

Nearly an hour and a half later and five miles from where he joined the westbound carriageway, traffic police caught up with the scooter driver and forced him to pull over.

Motorists faced huge tailbacks along the stretch of road between junctions eight and nine of the M27 near Southampton, Hants.

Police said today that the elderly man had spent the day shopping in Whiteley, Hants, and was trying to find his way home to nearby Locks Heath.

But he got lost and accidentally ended up on the motorway at around 3pm yesterday.

He was eventually picked up by officers from Cosham Roads Policing Unit at 4.30pm, who requested that a force van come and take him and his mobility scooter home.

Hampshire Police spokeswoman Susan Rolling said: "The guy had never been shopping in Whiteley before, so when he tried to get home he got lost.

"He was driving along in his disability carriage and ended up on a roundabout leading on to the motorway and then drove straight down the slip road onto the carriageway.

"Rather than turn around, he just kept going along the hard shoulder.

"He was picked up by officers, who found him in a very confused state. He obviously didn't do this deliberately and just ended up on the motorway by mistake.

"Fortunately, he wasn't hurt at all. Our advice is clearly not to take a mobility scooter on a motorway, it's not safe."