A CONCEALED road sign could have caused a motorist to drive the wrong way down a dual carriageway, risking the lives of dozens of people.Shocked John Alborough, 52, of Hoxne Road, Syleham, near Eye, told how he saw a motorist driving the wrong way down the Ipswich-bound A140 dual carriageway, heading towards Norwich, near Creeting St Mary, at 9.

A CONCEALED road sign could have caused a motorist to drive the wrong way down a dual carriageway, risking the lives of dozens of people.

Shocked John Alborough, 52, of Hoxne Road, Syleham, near Eye, told how he saw a motorist driving the wrong way down the Ipswich-bound A140 dual carriageway, heading towards Norwich, near Creeting St Mary, at 9.25pm on Sunday.

The incident happened just days after careless driver Marco Botti was banned from driving. He swerved into the path of another car and killed a middle-aged Mildenhall couple – because he was used to driving on the right in his native Italy.

Mr Alborough said of the Creeting incident: "It could have been a case of completely innocent people being involved in a high-speed crash."

He believes the reason the driver travelled the wrong way down the carriageway was because a "keep-left" sign was being obscured by a roadworks sign leaning against it.

He said: "We will never know, but there could have been a real tragedy there."

After driving the route again, he said: "I can still see the skid marks where the cars had to swerve to avoid the oncoming car."

The near miss happened when Mr Alborough was driving home after a family gathering in Somersham, near Ipswich.

He said: "I was travelling behind my wife and father-in-law, at about 55mph up Beacon Hill, just over the brow of the hill.

"I noticed that the brake lights were coming on in a lot of cars in front of my wife, so I braked as well. At this point a car came towards me on the wrong carriageway and went past us on the right.

"We had no choice but to carry on, but I was concerned that there was a tragedy unfolding behind me.

"I was very shaken up – we all were by the time we got home. But that turned into anger when I saw that the road sign was still being covered 24 hours later.

"I assumed that somebody had perhaps come out of the Highwayman pub and turned the wrong way. Or they had turned the wrong way after coming out of the houses nearby."