Video: Lorry driver performs U-turn on M6 toll

FOOTAGE of a lorry doing a U-turn on the M6 toll motorway has been released by traffic cops after the driver was given a suspended sentence.

Leonid Papachin performs the U-turn into oncoming traffic. Picture: Hemedia

Leonid Papachin, from Lithuania, drove the wrong way down the slip road at junction T5, before pulling onto the hard shoulder around 5.30pm on October 23.

The 51-year-old then executed the highly dangerous and illegal manoeuvre into the path of three lanes of oncoming traffic.

The video footage shows Papachin’s forty tonne truck complete the U-turn before driving off in the right direction.

Leonid Papachin performs the U-turn into oncoming traffic. Picture: Hemedia

Motorway police, following a tip-off from CCTV controllers, stopped the vehicle a short time later, arrested Papachin and charged him with dangerous driving.

The driver was remanded in custody and appeared at Cannock Magistrates Court on October 30, where he was sentenced to 15 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and disqualified from driving for 18 months. He will have to pass an extended test of competence once the ban is up.