A learner driver was in a state of "blind panic" as she drove for miles on the wrong side of a dual carriageway, a court heard.

Louise Ponting took a wrong turning at a roundabout near Oxford and headed south in the northbound lane of the A34, forcing oncoming traffic to swerve.

She was "extremely relieved" when police finally stopped her near Harwell.

Ponting, 26, of Nuffield Close, Didcot, was fined £200 and banned from driving for two years for dangerous driving.

She was also accused of obstructing Pc Paul Allan by giving a false name, driving without insurance and a full driving licence. She was fined £20 for obstruction but no further penalty was imposed on the other two charges. She admitted all the charges.

Helen Waite, prosecuting, told Didcot magistrates that Ponting was driving a Vauxhall Corsa that was stopped by Pc Paul Allan on the A4130 near Didcot at 11pm on May 31, when she hit a verge.

Police later discovered that she had given a false name.

Miss Waite said: "Forty-five minutes later police were informed a car was causing a hazard to other drivers on the northbound carriageway of the A34 where Pc Allan saw the same Vauxhall Corsa making its way southwards into the path of oncoming traffic."

Mr Gordon Hotson, defending, said that Ponting had split from her long-term boyfriend. She drove the car in a desperate attempt to patch up the relationship.

Mr Hotson said when Ponting was first stopped by police, she panicked and gave a false name because she did not have a full driving licence.

She then decided to go straight home, but took a wrong turn, said Mr Hotson.

Mr Hotson said: "As an inexperienced driver, she was in a blind panic and did not know what to do."

Ponting was ordered to pay £80 costs, and was told she would have to take an extended driving test before being allowed to drive again.