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Drive in reverse or wrong way on motorway

Road traffic — practical elements, sentencing links and station notes for accredited reps in England & Wales.

Road traffic

Drive in reverse or wrong way on motorway

Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations / RTA 1988 (as charged)

England & Wales. Elements, mode of trial, maximum and defences — not a charging or outcome predictor.

Triable
Summary only
Maximum penalty
Level 4 fine

Actus reus

  • Contravention of the Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations 1982 on direction of driving or reversing (typically regs 6 and 8), made an offence by RTA 1988, s.17.

Mens rea

  • Driving against the specified direction, or reversing, in breach of the regulation.

Defences

Not driving against the specified direction / not reversing · Permitted exception in the regulation (if any applies) · Not a motorway to which the regulations apply

Sentencing Council

Sentencing Council guideline effective 04 August 2008. Offence range: Discharge to Band C fine Must endorse and impose 3 points Starting point: Band C fine &nb.

View definitive guideline ↗

At the police station

This is endorsable on the SC table. Hard-shoulder stopping is a different page.

When to involve a rep or solicitor

Police station advice is free under legal aid and is not means-tested.

Authoritative sources for this page

Statute plus Sentencing Council (and CPS where listed) are the two primary sources we used for mode of trial, maximum and elements. Case links are from our verified registry only.

More in Road traffic

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Sources & further reading

Links are to official publishers (legislation, gov.uk, CPS, LAA, Sentencing Council). Case law on this site is limited to entries in our verified case-law registry. Always confirm the current version before relying on it in live advice.