1:29PM, Tue Oct 9, 2012

Satnav Slipup Sends Driver Into Oncoming Traffic

By Hugh Macknight Location: Newcastle

A satnav slipup sent a young driver the wrong way up Newcastle Central Motorway.

Nicola O'Shea, 20, had only been driving for five months when the technical error sent her heading into oncoming traffic.

She was driving along Claremont Road, near the Royal Victoria Infirmary Hospital, when she followed a sat nav instruction to take the fifth exit from Claremont Lace roundabout.

But terrifyingly that exit turned out to be a slip-road from the central motorway.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the estate agency worker, of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, then found herself heading towards oncoming vehicles – including a police car.

The police car also came to a halt and O’Shea then reversed up the slip-road back to the roundabout.

She was hit with seven penalty points when she admitted careless driving at Newcastle Magistrates Court – meaning that as a new driver, she would lose her licence and be forced to re-take her test.