A CAR was spotted weaving in and out of traffic as it sped the wrong way down the A127, narrowly avoiding a crash.

The driver was seen dodging traffic on the busy road as the car travelled towards Southend on the London-bound carriageway at about 11pm Friday night, near Mayflower Retail Park in Basildon.

A worker carrying out improvements to the A127 saw the car on the wrong side of the road and feared he would witness a head-on crash.

Ashley Reeves, 38, from Bexleyheath, said: “It happened around 11pm Friday night near the Basildon sliproad going to McDonald’s and my work mate called the police.

“We were tooting and flashing the driver for a while to try to get his attention but we did not manage to do this.

“There was nearly a head-on crash and it was very scary. “In the end he turned around.”

READ MORE >>> 

Stuart Allen, Tory councillor for the Crouch ward, feared it would have been terrifying for other drivers on the road.

He said: “It would have been very scary for any drivers who were going the right way. You just do not expect it when you are driving.

“I do not understand how he got onto the wrong side of the road. This is very dangerous and if they turned around it sounds like it could have been a mistake.

“It’s very fearsome for other drivers on the road and I am intrigued about the state of the driver and how they managed to get onto the wrong side of the road.”

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We were called to reports of a car driving the wrong way on the A127 near to the junction with the A176 at around 1.05am on Saturday 15 May.

“No details of the car’s licence plate number were given.

“Officers attended the scene within seven minutes and carried out a search of the area but could not locate the vehicle.

“A further report indicated the car had managed to get back on the correct side of the road and had left onto the M25.”

Contact 101 quoting incident 76 of May 15.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our court and crime newsletter here.