Shocking moment queue-dodging motorist puts lives at risk by using hard shoulder on the M5 motorway

Avon and Somerset police spotted 25 driving offences on the M5 motorway across two days in September, as they patrolled in an unmarked National Highways HGV cab.

These included:

• 18 people driving without a seat belt
• 1 driver using a mobile phone at the wheel
• 3 cases of driving with an insecure load
• 1 driving on the hard shoulder of the motorway

Offences were filmed and vehicles were stopped by supporting police vehicles following the HGV, leading to fines and licence points for those driving dangerously.

The two days of action came as part of Op Peninsula, a multi-agency campaign to improve safety and safe driving behaviours in the South West.

The operation saw Avon and Somerset Police team up with National Highways, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Devon and Cornwall Police and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

In total 240 offences were recorded on the South West’s motorways during the operation.

In one instance, Avon and Somerset police officers filmed a car take to the hard shoulder to avoid sitting in queueing traffic