A truck driver who deliberately drove in the wrong direction on the M20 in a bid to catch a ferry was jailed for 10 months this week.
The jury at Canterbury Crown Court took just 39 minutes to unanimously reach a guilty verdict in the case of 25-year-old Polish national Tomasz Mista, who argued that had there been a crash it would have been other drivers’ fault because he was driving in the opposite direction “carefully”.
Mista, who has been an HGV driver for six years, said he had previously driven the wrong way on the hard shoulder to paint road signs, on behalf of Highways England.
The court heard that Mista mistakenly drove his truck down the Channel Tunnel’s approach road in Folkestone at 2pm in October last year.
Told he needed the ferry terminal in Dover, Mista reversed his Duzubasek Transport lorry, spun around, and took off London-bound at 20mph to 30mph, stopping occasionally for traffic.
Representing himself, Mista said he tried using a motorway lane by waving oncoming cars out the way, but was forced onto the hard shoulder.
Asked why he thought motorists were flashing their lights at him, he told prosecutors: “Because they had never seen such a crazy person on the road.”
Mista was apprehended by police after driving 2.5 miles the wrong way, in which time he also spoke on his phone and entered the inside carriageway as motorists sounded their horns.
He was sentenced to 10 months in prison but since he has been held on remand since October last year he is to be released shortly under the good behaviour rule.
Mista has also been banned for driving for three years.
Sentencing Mista, Judge Richard Smith said: “Moving against the flow of high speed traffic for 2.5 miles created an obvious risk of collision and risk of devastating fatal consequences.”
