Motorway lane hogging: Police release video of dangerous M1 undertaking manoeuvre but drivers hit back

Traffic police officers found that motorists all reacted the same way when watching a video of 'unacceptable' driving on the M1.

The Derbyshire Roads Policing Unit X - formerly Twitter - account, which has the handle @DerbyshireRPU, posted a video of a Volkswagen Scirocco on the southbound side of the M1.

The driver swooped from the fast lane to lane two - next to the inside lane in the four-lane carriageway - and then accelerated up to 100mph.

Officers posted: "Just about wrapping up for the day when our attention was drawn to the red Scirocco. An undertake from Lane 4 to Lane 2 and back again before increasing speed to excess of 100mph. Totally unacceptable. Reported for careless driving."

While the video shows driving that is certainly not in the Highway Code, people reading the post online had another take - saying that it reflected the number of 'lane-hoggers' on the motorway.

Gellert, posting under the handle @saabenjoyer, wrote: "You missed at least 10 lane hoggers. Good job that’s acceptable."

Ryan, posting under @RedBSierra, added: "The lane hogging is more dangerous than switching lanes."

Joe posted: "Glad people seem to be pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of an undertake being a cardinal sin but lane hogging going unpunished. When can we expect literally any of the people we see every single day doing it to actually get reprimanded? I'd bet on never."

And Craig Jackson wrote: "You can understand his frustration with the lane hoggers."

Rule 264 of the Highway Code applies to lane hogging.

This says: “You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slow-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past.”

Lane hogging is when drivers stay in a lane when they could safely move to the left. It has often been used in the past for 'middle lane-hogging' but since the advent of four-lane motorways can be used for any lane - except the inside lane.

The RAC says: "There’s no clear reason why people hog the middle lane. It could be because practical motorway training isn’t part of the UK driving test – meaning drivers haven’t been taught how to drive on the motorway, apart from what they’ve learnt as part of the theory test."