A PENSIONER spent more than 30 hours on a motorway after getting lost on what should have been a one hour drive to his daughter’s house.

Dennis Leighton, 82, sparked a police appeal for help tracing him after leaving his home in Windsor, Berkshire, on Monday evening (December 12).

The pensioner had made the 55-mile journey to his daughter’s home in Swanley before but something went drastically wrong, with him getting lost on the M25.

The octogenarian was eventually found in south London by Metropolitan Police after spending two nights in his car.

The journey to Swanley should have taken him just over an hour. When he did not arrive his concerned family phoned the police.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “He got a little bit lost but was found safe and well in the early hours.”

Officers had asked colleagues in neighbouring constabularies to be vigilant for the missing pensioner and his silver Vauxhall estate.

His car was seen on Tuesday at 11.20am only six miles from his destination when it was picked up on a police automatic number plate recognition camera in Dartford, Kent.

Officers think he might have spent a large part of the time parked in a layby or services.

Police said that Mr Leighton was found safe and well and had been reunited with his family. There was no explanation for how he had spent his time but a force spokesman said he had not been “driving round solidly for 30 hours”.