Jenna Langdon, from Aberdare, has said she was one of 64 drivers prosecuted after turning around on a closed dual carriageway in Cardiff, an action she believed had been permitted by police. She pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on Monday and was ordered to pay £600 in fines and costs and given six penalty points on her licence.
Ms Langdon, 41, said she was "treated like a criminal" and that the prosecution could put people's livelihoods at risk. She said she was told by a prosecutor during the hearing that the drivers had performed a dangerous manoeuvre. "They told me I'd put people's lives at risk," she said.
Trapped in the tunnel for hours
The Butetown Tunnels near Cardiff Bay were closed due to a police incident late on February 20, 2026. Ms Langdon, who was travelling home with her mother and daughter after watching a show at the Wales Millennium Centre, made it around halfway through the tunnel before hitting standstill traffic.
"Nothing moved for about an hour and we just sat there. The road was blocked in front and then they shut the road behind us so we were sandwiched in this traffic," she said. "After around an hour and a half, maybe two hours, one-by-one in a very controlled manner we turned around. Police officers were at the end of the slip road. We waved to say thanks thinking they had let us out."
She said she was under the impression the whole queue of traffic had turned around and that official temporary arrangements had been put in place due to the closure. She thought nothing more of the situation until she received a letter from South Wales Police's motoring unit telling her she was being prosecuted.
Police evidence contradicts belief
Ms Langdon replied to the letter but assumed its issuing had been a mistake, believing it had been sent automatically after her number plate was picked up by a camera. However, another letter said South Wales Police did intend to prosecute her. A statement from a police officer at the scene that night was included as evidence.
It said: "On February 20, 2026, between 23.15 and 23.45 hours, I was parked in a static position on a road closure situated at the entrance to the northbound Butetown Tunnel, A4232, Cardiff. During this time I observed a number of vehicles driving the wrong way back up the dual carriageway towards the road closure, travelling against the permitted flow of traffic. This presented an immediate risk to road users, pedestrians, and emergency personnel."
"At no time did I, or to my knowledge any other police officer on the scene, direct or instruct any vehicles to drive the wrong way up the dual carriageway." The letter added that the vehicle Ms Langdon was driving went past the officer's roads policing vehicle and triggered its automatic number plate recognition camera.
Court appearance and punishment
Ms Langdon received a letter asking her to indicate her plea, which she put as guilty. She also ticked a box saying she was happy for the case to be dealt with in her absence, hoping she would not need to go to court. However, she then received a court summons ordering her to appear before Cardiff Magistrates' Court on August 24.
"I thought they'd made me go to court so I could explain what happened and then they would throw it out. I genuinely believed that. I felt completely blindsided when I stood there in front of the three judges and was made to feel like the biggest criminal in the world," she said. "I was shocked and sick to my stomach."
Ms Langdon said she could not believe the punishment she received. In a worst-case scenario she thought she would be given a fixed-penalty notice, which she said she would still have appealed. "I wasn't expecting to have to pay £600 in 28 days. That's a lot for anybody to pay whoever you are. Then the points too. My insurance is due in a month – the [careless driving conviction is] going to dramatically increase that."
She said she fears the punishment could ruin some people's livelihoods. "I remember there were young lads behind us. If they'd been driving for less than two years they're going to lose their licence over this. It just feels really unjust over something as innocent as thinking you were told to turn around."
She added: "It was completely innocent. There was no malice, there was no intent, there was no thinking: 'I'm fed up. I am just going to take it upon myself to turn around'. As far as I'm aware the whole tunnel ended up turning round. It was very controlled. It was very safe. The police let us pass. They didn't stop anybody so I don't know why they didn't stop the first person who turned around because it would have stopped everybody else. I don't know how it's got to this point. Sixty-four people made the same decision. We can't all be wrong thinking that that's what we were supposed to do. I thought common sense would prevail."
A police spokesman said: "South Wales Police has received a complaint following the prosecution of a driver for driving without due care and attention on February 20. Enquires are ongoing in relation to the complaint."
