A man who drove the wrong way down the M4 as the police pursued him has been jailed for eight months.
Officers tried to stop Reggie Reed on the westbound carriageway of the motorway close to Junction 15 on December 13.
Although he initially pulled over on to the hard shoulder, Reed then accelerated off, crossing two lanes of traffic.
Officers followed, but when he approached stationary traffic, he performed a u-turn and started driving against the flow of traffic in the outside lane.
Due to the risk to other road users, the police were forced to perform a tactical manoeuvre to stop him.
The 21-year-old, of Kingshill Road, Swindon, appeared at Swindon Crown Court earlier this month and was sentenced for dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to stop for police and driving without insurance.
He was jailed for eight months and disqualified from driving for two years.
Sergeant Will Ayres, from Wiltshire Police's Roads Policing Unit, said: “Reed showed a complete disregard for the authority of the officers who were trying to stop him, and then drove incredibly dangerously and recklessly while trying to evade us.
“Not only did he fail to stop when ordered to do so by police, but he ended up driving the wrong way on a busy, dark motorway.
“It is only thanks to the swift action of the officers in question that Reed was prevented from causing serious injury to himself or the other motorists on that section of motorway.”
PC Luke Hobbs, the officer conducting the pursuit, added: "This was the most dangerous manoeuvre I have witnessed on the motorway, and stopping him from driving the wrong way down the M4 was my only option and something I did automatically.
"The consequences if I had allowed him to keep driving could have been catastrophic and I would rather risk injury to myself than put members of the public at risk."
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