A PENSIONER who drove the wrong way on the M4 for more than seven miles has been warned he could be sent to prison.

Ali Abdo left chaos in the slipstream of his 05-reg Renault Scenic as he sped east along the westbound carriageway of the M4 from the Swindon turn-off at junction 15.

He had come from Heathrow and was heading back to Cardiff. But he thought he was going the wrong way and after leaving the motorway accidentally got on to the same carriageway, driving back towards London.

After he admitted dangerous driving a judge at Swindon Crown Court warned the 68-year-old that a prison term was a real possibility.

Sarah Regan, defending, asked Judge John McNaught if he would consider passing a non-custodial sentence without a pre-sentence report.

But the judge replied: "I can't possibly do that. It is a very, very serious case of dangerous driving."

He then adjourned the case for six weeks so the probation service can compile reports.

The judge told Abdo: "The fact that you are on bail must not lull you into a false sense of security. All sentencing options including prison must remain open."

Miss Regan told the court that Abdo did not have psychiatric difficulties but had just got confused. She said he had paid a taxi driver £25 to show him how to get on to the motorway but had gone down the wrong slip road.

He had then driven his vehicle for seven and a half miles on the wrong carriageway before he was finally stopped by police.

"Once on the motorway going the wrong way he was trying desperately to get off. It was confusion rather than any inherent psychiatric difficulty," she said.

Abdo, of Loftus Street, Cardiff, admitted a count of dangerous driving on Saturday, February 11. At the time police said they were amazed nobody was killed.

Traffic officer Glenn Powell said: "The driver left seven miles of chaos. How no serious injury or fatality has occurred we will never know."

As they pursued the car from the correct carriageway he said they saw at least five other smashes where cars had hit the central reservation or hard shoulder as drivers took evasive action. He said they got alongside and tried to signal to the driver to pull over but he kept on going.

The Scenic only stopped when they got ahead of it and Sgt Powell got out and waved the car down, he said.