A grandfather who drove his wife from their Wiltshire home to Gatwick found getting home through the snow chaos impossible

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

A 72-year-old man was rescued on Christmas Day by police after spending three days and nights driving up and down the M4 motorway, trying to get home.

Mohammed Bellazrak lost his way while trying to drive back to Wiltshire from Gatwick airport on 23 December after dropping off his wife.

He had set off from their home in Trowbridge to drive to Heathrow airport, but due to the snow, Mrs Bellazrak's flight to visit family in Morocco was diverted to Gatwick, so they drove on into Sussex.

He left Gatwick at about 8pm to drive home, a journey which should have taken a couple of hours. When he failed to return – and as he had left his mobile phone behind – his family reported him missing.

He had taken cold weather supplies in with him in case of breakdown, but had not packed his diabetes medicine.

Police in Wiltshire asked colleagues in neighbouring forces to keep an eye open for him. CCTV footage showed him leaving the airport, but the trail ran cold until police fed his car details into their number plate recognition system. Officers discovered cameras had recorded him driving around in numerous towns in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

He said he had been up and down to London three times, sleeping in his car each night and stopping to buy coffee and ask the way, but people did not understand his question, and so he kept coming back to the motorway.

"When I got home I was so glad, I was so happy and I was glad to be alive," Bellazrak said last night.

"When I go to pick up my wife when she flies back to the UK, one of my sons is going to come with me to navigate.

"I will never go out without my mobile phone again. I blame my satnav for what happened."