First court conviction for ‘middle lane hogging’
16th July 2015
A van driver has become the first person to be convicted by a court for the specific offence of ‘motorway middle lane hogging’.
Ian Stephens, of Huddersfield, was ordered to pay £940 at Leeds Magistrates Court, including a £500 fine, £400 in court costs and a £40 ‘victim’s surcharge’, and given five penalty points on his driving licence.
He was found guilty of driving along the middle lane of the M62 near Huddersfield at around 60mph while the inside lane was free, forcing other drivers to brake and swerve to overtake him.
Police were granted new powers in 2013 to combat middle lane hoggers and tailgaters throughout the UK and, since then, they have issued more than 10,000 spot fines of £100 to ‘inconsiderate’ motorists.
Mr Stephens did not accept the fine and was subsequently taken to court – which he failed to attend because, he said, of “work commitments”.
A self-employed painter and decorator, he was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying he planned to appeal: “This could put me out of business and that is completely unfair. Firstly I have got to find nearly £1,000 to pay the fine and costs, but then my work van insurance will go through the roof.
“It was a complete over-reaction by the police who did not take into account the very busy traffic conditions on the road. I was simply one of dozens of vehicles using the middle lane because we were all going up a hill and overtaking some slow-moving lorries. I think the officers were simply trying to raise their tally for the day and saw a white van man and decided to nail me simply because they could.”
Lane hogging “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”, PC Nigel Fawcett-Jones from the Road Policing Unit said.
“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.”