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Elderly woman causes chaos after riding down dual carriageway on a mobility scooter

<em>Wrong turn – the elderly woman ended up on a busy dual carriageway on a mobility scooter after taking a wrong turn (Picture: SWNS)</em>
Wrong turn – the elderly woman ended up on a busy dual carriageway on a mobility scooter after taking a wrong turn (Picture: SWNS)

This is the moment an elderly woman caused chaos on a busy dual carriageway after taking a wrong turn on her mobility scooter.

The disabled pensioner was spotted driving at 5-10mph in the left hand lane of the A12 in Marks Tey, Essex.

She caused chaos as drivers swerved to avoid her and had to be escorted to safety by police officers who set up a rolling road block.

One driver described how they “nearly ran into her” as they were driving to work.

Jay Butler said: “She was seemingly completely oblivious, like she was off to do her shopping. It looked like several people had to take action to avoid her.”

<em>Chaos – the woman caused chaos after driving at 5-10mph down the dual carriageway (Picture: SWNS)</em>
Chaos – the woman caused chaos after driving at 5-10mph down the dual carriageway (Picture: SWNS)

The 44-year-old added: “To be fair, it is not what you expect to find in front of you on a fast road. She was pretty lucky not to get hurt.”

Jay, from Suffolk, added: “The danger was that people couldn’t see her once she was behind another vehicle, so for anyone joining the carriageway it was incredibly dangerous.

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“I first saw her as I drew close the the Stanway turn off and she was still travelling along the road after I had passed her.

“I could see her in my rear-view mirror and traffic was starting to build up around and behind her when I finally lost sight.

“She must have been on there a good while afterwards too as there were no police in sight for a while.

“I did see a few people having to brake hard and swerve coming off the slip road entrance onto the A12, as they were obviously speeding up to join the motorway when they almost ran into the back of her.”

After the incident on Thursday, Essex Police reportedly posted a picture of the woman, apologising to motorists for the inconvenience she caused.

In a statement, the force added: “We were called to concerns for the welfare of a woman on a mobility scooter on the southbound A12 near Stanway at around 8.30am. We located the woman and brought her off the road and ensured her safety.”