Driver disqualified after travelling the wrong way on the M23

Neil Dean was stopped by Roads Policing Unit officer PC Jordan Smith near junction 9 of the M23 in the early hours of July 29.

It had followed an earlier report from a concerned member of the public who had seen a white Ford Transit van going the wrong way up a slip road on the A23 at Patcham before it then turned around.

PC Smith then saw the vehicle described heading into oncoming traffic on the motorway as Dean drove southbound on the northbound carriageway.

He activated his blue lights and Dean, 58, of Headcorn Road, Smarden, Kent, stopped in lane four of the motorway, forcing a number of other vehicles to have to change lane in order to avoid a head on collision.

He was initially arrested and charged with dangerous driving which he admitted in court, and he appeared for sentence at Crawley Magistrates’ Court on October 27.

The court imposed a one-year community order and disqualified Dean from driving for 18 months. He will also need to take an extended retest if he wishes to drive again.

The court also ordered Dean to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and eight rehabilitation sessions, and to pay £85 costs and a £95 surcharge.

PC Smith said: “This is a good court result to take a dangerous driver off our roads.

“Dean’s driving put himself and other road users’ lives at risk by driving the wrong way along the M23 for nearly five miles.”