Jail for autoroute wrong-way driver

A DRIVER who drove more than 100km the wrong way down the autoroute has been jailed for two months, banned from driving, banned from sitting a new test for five years and had his car confiscated.

Retired railwayman Michel Abgrall, 61 from Toulouse, could not explain to the court in Bayonne why he drove at speeds of up to 150kph between Toulouse and Bayonne on the A64 in the dark and rain without lights.

Asked by the judges if he had not thought about the danger of what he was doing he only replied "But, there was no accident." And La République des Pyrénées newspaper said he caused amazement in court when he said that he did not stop because "you are not supposed to stop on the autoroute and it is dangerous to do a U-turn."

Gendarmes said that around 30 other vehicles had had to swerve to avoid his Opel Astra on Sunday as he sped down the autoroute and he was not halted until he hit two police cars at the péage toll station at Bayonne.

Although the prosecutor asked for him to be sent to prison for five months for driving dangerously, Abgrall was sentenced to eight months' jail with six months suspended.

However, no mandat de dépôt was ordered because of his mental state - so he was not taken directly to jail but will serve his time when called. He was told to get psychiatric care first. His family said he had been receiving psychiatric care for 30 years until stopping suddenly last July.

Photo: Loïc Francois - Fotolia.com