Are you supposed to pull over when you have witnessed an accident on the roads?

[dillite]

I know that this is probably a stupid question, but I've not been driving that long and it wasn't something that was covered in my lessons! This morning, on the way to work I witnessed an accident right before me involving a lorry and 2 cars. And I had no idea what I was supposed to do in that instance! Should I have joined them on the hard shoulder to give them my details as a witness? I simply carried on once they pulled over to the hard shoulder and then phoned 101 to give my details in case if police/ insurance need to contact witnesses. But what's the correct procedure in such instances?

If you were on a motorway then it wouldn’t have been safe for you to pull over too.
Calling 101 when you could sounds like the best option you had.

I aw an accident on the motorway just before I got off at my junction, carried on as not safe to stop -spotted a police car outside the shop at the bottom of the slip road. Brilliant! I told them about it and they gave me a number to phone.

sparkling whose number did they give you? Not one for the police, surely?

Yes, a different police one.

TBF this was quite a few years ago, before 101 etc but I thought they could have done it. A van had driven into the barrier of the hard shoulder after weaving about in the inside lane for half a mile or so.

I wouldn't stop on the hard shoulder of the motorway, unless there is next to no traffic on it, like last night when I was travelling, then I possibly would. What I would do is call the Police (as long as you have hands free) and/or the Highways Agency.

As witness, no you aren't forced to stop.
What I did was when I got back reported it on line with as much detail as possible.

Stopping was not safe I think you did the right thing.