It was probably their first and last visit to Newbury. They probably weren't speeding or driving recklessly, but merely trying to find their way to the car park and ended up in the wrong direction due to poor directional signage with no way of escaping. They probably couldn't reverse back down the street into a busy junction or mount the kerb as that would be breaking the law. If the road was wider they could have quickly and easily corrected their mistake, no harm no fowl. Instead if their car had proceeded to the bollards it would have been deliberately damaged to prevent them committing a minor traffic offence. An extreme measure which would result in the 'potential' hazard being diverted from the pedestrian and becoming a 'certain' hazard to the road user. The supposed justification for this is that they may have hit a vehicle coming the other way. You can't tell me that the pedestrians in Newbury are immune to being hit by buses and taxis going the wrong way!
It is probably because they were watching out for the traffic in front of them as well as the pedestrians around them, on top of trying to navigate around unfamiliar territory that they didn't see the signs for the one way. At the time they would not have been aware that they were committing an offence. They would have thought they could carry on around the one way system and somehow find their way back to the car park......or go home. They will probably will not be visiting Newbury again due to this poor signage. Comments from passing slack jawed yokels would have done nothing to endear them to the town either.
Sound familiar?
Same argument as per the perpetrator on the "Bollards" thread - different violation!
There's always an excuse for some of the terrible driving on the roads in town.
Must try harder!