A man without a licence is facing charges after he drove a severely damaged car on Highway 401, leading to witnesses calling 911, Ontario Provincial Police say.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said that at around 6 p.m. on Thursday, Toronto OPP got reports of a vehicle “travelling erratically with extensive damage” in the westbound lanes of Highway 401 near Keele Street.
“Officers were able to intercept that vehicle and get it stopped near Dixon Road,” Schmidt said.
The driver, a 24-year-old man who doesn’t have a licence, has been charged with operating a vehicle without a licence and operating an unsafe vehicle, Schmidt said.
“Further investigation revealed that that vehicle had been involved in an earlier collision east of the GTA,” Schmidt said. “That investigation is ongoing.”
Schmidt didn’t say where the crash occurred.
From Highway 401 and Dixon Road — which is around where the vehicle was said to have been stopped — to the easternmost point of the Greater Toronto Area on the border of Northumberland County is roughly 95 kilometres.
“Thanks to the witnesses who called in that vehicle,” Schmidt said.
“It could’ve resulted in more collisions down the road.”