POLICE have issued a stark warning to motorway “middle lane hoggers” on major Essex roads.

Essex’s Roads Policing Unit says its officers “regularly deal with middle lane hoggers on all roads across the county”.

However, the force says the problem is at its worst on the M11.

READ MORE

But what is a middle lane hogger?

When driving along a three-lane motorway, rule 264 of the Highway Code states: “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.”

Middle-lane hogging is when vehicles remain in the middle lane longer than necessary, even when there aren’t any vehicles in the inside lane to overtake.

Officers have described how they deal with people who hog the middle lane.

In a tweet, an officer said: “Often this will be with a headlight flash from behind and playing this message as we pass to reinforce, this means we can deal with a series of offenders at once.

“Typically one to two will move straight back out afterwards behind us and be pulled over and dealt with as a result, if we don't have time then we will again display the message, flash our rear lights and left indicator.

“If that doesn't work we will then change the message to 'follow me' and take the driver off the motorway to educate and report.”

And just yesterday, when puling a vehicle over, officers discovered the driver only had a provisional driving licence but was driving alone without any learning plates.

The car was seized and the driver was reported.