The hard shoulder is not a short cut

There has been a recent spate of incidents where motorists have resorted to driving on the hard shoulder to avoid delays.

Police have warned motorists they could be dicing with death by driving the wrong way along the motorway to avoid these jams.

Officers say they will clamp down on any drivers performing illegal manoeuvres to escape hold-ups.

Examples of such behaviour could be found after two serious accidents on the M62 where frustrated commuters were stuck on the motorway for several hours. There were huge tailbacks when the motorway was closed for more than nine hours near Leeds in a double fatal smash and on days later it was shut for four hours in both directions following a crash at junction 25. It culminated in reports of motorists using the hard shoulder or doing u-turns to escape the congestion.

Use of the hard shoulder, other than in an emergency, is an offence and prevents the emergency services from gaining swift access to the scene.