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HEADING FOR DISASTER
Shocking moment confused pensioner speeds wrong way down motorway before causing eight car pile-up
Vehicles were left "battered and crushed" after colliding with elderly driver on the M5
A CONFUSED pensioner speeds the WRONG way down the motorway fast lane in this alarming footage.
Seconds later he crashed into eight cars, closing the M5 in Somerset for three hours.
Seven motorists pinballed into each other as they desperately tried to avoid the driver heading north in the outside lane of the southbound carriageway.
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The elderly man, in his 70s, was pulled from his wrecked Vauxhall and taken to hospital with a suspected fractured hip.
Despite the number of vehicles involved, remarkably there were no other serious injuries.
Eyewitness Natalie Ellis said: "The aftermath of this was awful.
"How they all survived is beyond me. I couldn't even tell what one car was it was so battered and crushed."
Antony Jones, who saw the aftermath of the crash while out for a walk with partner Mandy Coombs, added: "Two of the cars were quite badly damaged.
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"There were no serious injures which, given the circumstances of the accident, is nothing short of a miracle."
The driver went the wrong way up between junctions 24 at Bridgwater and 25 at Taunton around 6.15pm on Tuesday evening.
Police were inundated with calls reporting the chaos and arrived within 10 minutes.
They managed to stop the disorientated motorist by 6.35pm.
Paramedics treated casualties for shock and minor injuries and only half the cars involved were safe enough to drive away.
The southbound carriageway was partially reopened around 9pm but lanes two and three remained closed until later in the evening so debris could be cleared.
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Avon and Somerset Constabulary said they have not charged anyone in connection with the drama but their enquiries were continuing.
A spokesman said: "The man was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured hip.
"The incident finished by 6.35pm. The car was stopped and we started clearing up from 6.35pm."
"We'd like to thank all those who called in to report the incident - due to the volume of calls we weren't able to answer the calls as quickly as normal."
South Western Ambulance Service said: "We got a call at 6.25pm to reports of a multi-vehicle collision.
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"We sent three crews, two officers and members of our Hazard Area Response Team.
"Two of our ambulances took patients to Musgrove Park Hospital. "Nobody appeared to be seriously hurt.
"We treated several walking wounded at the scene."
Sally Clarey, 43, who captured the shocking dashcam footage said the motorist was "completely oblivious" to everyone around him.
The administrator, of Bridgwater, Somerset, said: "There were four or five cars in front of me and I saw someone swerve.
"Just as I was overtaking in the middle lane, I saw this person coming down the fast lane.
"I saw the guy in the third lane, in the fast lane. He was driving quite fast.
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"It was like he completely oblivious to the fact that he was going the wrong way despite the fact that everybody else was going past him.
"Lots of people pulled over to the hard shoulder to report what they had seen.
"I was in so much shock."
The incident was the THIRD time the M5 has been closed in Somerset in just five days, after a woman threatened to jump from a bridge and a crash which left a young child injured.
The footage of the confused motorist was shot on an inexpensive dashboard camera and has an inaccurate date-stamp saying it was filmed in 2012.
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