There's Finally A Solution To Those Annoying Middle Lane Hoggers

Dire Straits, The Lighthouse Family and Simply Red are going to have sleepless nights over this.

A van driver has been fined almost £1000, in what is thought to be the first conviction of its kind, for hogging the middle lane over a stretch of the M62 near Huddersfield in August last year. Clearly, staying in the middle of the road for too long is now a serious no-go.

The driver, who was in a Citroen Berlingo van, blocked at least six other vehicles by travelling at 60mph in the middle lane, despite the left-hand lane being empty.

The unnamed motorist did not attend the hearing at Leeds Magistrates, but was given five penalty points and ordered to pay a £500 fine, £400 in costs and £40 for a victim surcharge.

£100 on-the-spot fines for the offence were actually implemented back in August 2013 with the AA revealing at the time that a survey of 20,000 motorists revealed that one in three admitted hogging the middle lane at times - although they also said it was one of their top three pet hates - the other two being tailgaters and mobile phone abusers.

This new court case proves that the police are finally taking the offence seriously.

PC Nigel Fawcett-Jones from the Road Policing Unit commented that, "Lane hogging causes congestion and inconvenience to other road users. It reduces the capacity of roads and motorways, and can lead to dangerous situations where other drivers 'tailgate' the vehicle in front to try and get the lane hogger to move over. Members of the public regularly tell the Road Policing Unit that lane hogging and tailgating are real problems on our roads and this conviction shows that the police and the courts understand the public's concerns and take this offence seriously."

So drivers everywhere: beware taking an (Ocean) Drive in that middle lane for too long.

(Image: Rex)