Toothache sparks motorway madness

An Austrian driver drove 40 miles the wrong way down the country's busiest motorway - because he had toothache and desperately needed a dentist.

Austrian radio stations interrupted reports to urge drivers on the road to pull to one side as Kurt Wagner, 36, from Mödling South of Vienna sped along the A2 Südautobahn motorway.

Police said that he got onto the motorway on the wrong lane near his home and then drove to Grimmenstein in the Neunkirchen district causing at least one accident before he was stopped in a massive police operation.

Police spokesman Willy Konrathsaid: "We had put a block on the motorway to warn other drivers but he ignored blue lights and sirens, he just didn't seem to notice anything."

Incredibly police lost sight of the vehicle when it drove into thick fog and then left the motorway but officers had noted the number plate and arrested the driver later.

When arrested he claimed he could remember nothing about the drive, admitting he had taken a mixture of strong medication and alcohol to cope with the pain and the next thing he knew he was at the hospital being treated by doctors for his toothache.