THIS is the moment an elderly motorist caught driving the wrong way round a roundabout is prevented from causing a motorway tragedy by four Good Samaritans.

In a nerve-wracking video, the confused OAP is seen driving a red Citroen Berlingo on a roundabout close to the M5 against oncoming traffic.

The pensioner, believed to be aged between 80 and 90 years old, was driving near Junction 23, where the road meets the A39 at Bridgwater.

But a quick-thinking teenager, who put his own life on the line, trying to stop the pensioner, helped narrowly avoid tragedy from striking. 

Stephen Howe,18, who passed his driving test less than a year ago, captured the footage on his dash-cam.

The young lifeguard, who was travelling home from work, saw the red car travelling in the opposite direction, causing two cars to pull up on the pavement in a bid to get of its way.

He beeped at the old man, who raised a hand in acknowledgement, but then continued to try to drive into oncoming traffic before the Citroen Berlingo suddenly stopped at a jaunty angle towards traffic joining the roundabout.

Stephen said: "It was the start of the Easter holidays, I thought there are going to be so many families.

"It had to come to an end."

Fearing that the elderly man would continue driving the wrong way on the motorway, the teen wanted to ensure no-one was hurt.

"There were two vehicles on the bridge that had to mount the pavement and into the barrier, which stopped them going off the bridge," he added.

"It was then that I saw the worst, and decided he shouldn't be going on the motorway in the wrong direction.

"I beeped at him to get him to stop, and he looked at me and raised a hand up and then carried on.

"As he was trying to go against the oncoming traffic that was trying to join the roundabout, he couldn't go anywhere.

"I was trying to get him to stop by giving him hand signals, but he tried to move on. I took my seatbelt off and put the handbrake on, as another driver who was head on to him got out to speak to him."

He put on a hi-vis jacket before getting out of the car, while another driver spoke to the old man through his car window, at around 3.30pm on Saturday (April 1).

A car waiting behind Stephen positioned itself across the inside lane to stop traffic, and the driver of a horsebox used the vehicle to stop traffic on the slip road, allowing the old man to safely perform a U-turn into the southbound carriageway.

After tailing the elderly couple to ensure they continued their journey without incident, Stephen followed them into a car park where he was able to check they were alright.

The teenager was shaking from the stress of the situation but was surprised the old couple were calm and seemed unshaken by their near-death experience.

He phoned 999 to report the number plate but a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Constabulary said: "It doesn't look like we located the driver."

The brave lad's parents, who are both paramedics, were proud of his quick-thinking, but he credited them with installing in him a sense of responsibility to ensure other people were safe.

After posting the dash-cam footage on Facebook, he was inundated with comments, many praising the actions of the drivers who put themselves at risk to help.

One Facebook user, Tom Playll wrote: "Would of failed his driving test at least 4 times in the space of a few minutes watching that. Shocking needs to give his licence up."

Stephen, who is applying to be a Special Constable in the police force, said he thought if an 18-year-old boy like himself had made such a glaring error, drivers may have been less sympathetic.

He said: "Everyone was very calm and understand, he was obviously an elderly chap so we didn't want him to be upset.

"It would have been worse if it was the other way round."

The elderly couple were grateful for assistance but Stephen said: "They acted as though nothing had happened. I was shaking but they seemed perfectly fine."