A TEEN raver who drove the wrong-way down the A419 faces jail.

Daniel Parrott was on his way home from a drug-fuelled party in Marlborough when he claimed he had accidentally sniffed a globule of ketamine that had got lodged in his nose.

Driving with a passenger beside him in the car, the 19-year-old, who will start a mathematics course at Bristol University in the autumn, missed the turning for the northbound carriageway – instead turning his small blue Hyundai car onto the southbound road.

Parrott was stopped by a line of police officers – driving with their cars abreast in a bid to bring the rogue driver to a stop. The officer who pulled him out the car said the teen seemed oblivious to the world around him.

Prosecuting, Nick Barr said police had received a number of 999 calls after 5am on Sunday, March 10, to reports a blue car was travelling the wrong way up the A419 between the White Hart roundabout and the Rat Trap junction in Stratton.

Sgt Liam Winstone was on duty that morning. In a statement, read out in court, the officer said he had blocked the road together with colleagues in other cars – their patrol vehicles creating a rolling block designed to protect other motorists on the road.

He was preparing for the blue Hyundai, which appeared to be matching the speed of cars on the opposite carriageway, to smash into his panda car and was said to be concerned for his safety.

“I continued to narrow the gap,” he said in the statement, read by Mr Barr. “The oncoming car slowed dramatically and after a few seconds I realised it had in fact stopped.”

When the sergeant opened the car door, driver Parrott was oblivious and asked the officer: “What’s wrong?”

“He had no idea what he had just done,” he added.

Interviewed by police, the teen admitted to taking ketamine earlier that night. He had waited two to three hours until he felt he was safe to drive. At some point in the journey he said he had cleared his nose, inadvertently getting a second hit of the horse tranquiliser when he dislodged some of the grainy white powder that had earlier got stuck in his nose.

Parrott, of Andoversford, near Cheltenham, admitted dangerous driving and driving a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs.

Mark Glendenning, defending, said his client was extremely remorseful: “He is appalled and ashamed he should find himself before the courts in these circumstances.”

The teen, who had taken party drug ketamine recreationally at the weekend, understood full well how much more serious the consequences of his poor driving could have been. He was of previous good character.

Magistrates deemed their sentencing powers insufficient. Parrott was bailed to appear before Swindon Crown Court on September 12. Dangerous driving carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.