Janet Simpson startled rush-hour motorists as she drove at walking pace on the packed A38(M) near Birmingham with her pet chihuahua in the shopping basket.

BThe BBC's Daniel Boettcher: "Janet Simpson makes her way towards Spaghetti Junction at 10mph"

Drivers were forced to dodge the three-wheeler after Ms Simpson took a wrong turning and headed down the eight-lane motorway.

Traffic police officers watched in horror as CCTV cameras picked out the 55-year-old making her way along the Aston Expressway towards Spaghetti Junction on the M6.

Ms Simpson: "It was nothing compared to roundabouts I've been on"

Traffic police eventually managed to pull her over, but she simply said: "What's all the fuss about?"

Officers then had to close an access slip road to the M6, near junction six, to guide the electric buggy off the motorway - bringing traffic to a standstill.

Ms Simpson was taken to a local police station, where officers tried to get in touch with a social worker.

She had got lost

But while an officer was on the telephone attempting to arrange a lift home for Ms Simpson, she became impatient and headed for the door on the buggy.

"What's all the fuss about?" Ms Simpson asked police

"The officer pursued her, but she declined to stop and it was decided to let her go, having advised her to avoid the motorway," a spokesman said.

After the escapade, an apparently untroubled Ms Simpson was keen to play down her three-minute journey.

She said she had travelled to Birmingham from her home in Kings Holme, Gloucester, to visit her elderly father in Sutton Coldfield.

On the last leg of her journey from the city's New Street railway station to her destination, she lost her way.

"I asked lots of people the best way to get to Sutton and I just ended up on the Expressway," she said.

"A man in a blue overall flagged me down and I ended up at a police station. I haven't done anything wrong.

"That motorway was nothing compared to some roundabouts I've been on.

"I've been driving on the roads for over 11 years and I haven't had one accident.

"It all seems a lot of fuss over nothing."