to be really annoyed at drivers who drive....

[WreckOfTheHesperus]

...on the hard shoulder. The M4 was absolutely solid on Sunday, as it was closed between junction 3 and 4 because of a pile-up. We were stuck for 3 hours not moving.

Eventually many people just used the hard shoulder, and this too became utterly clogged with traffic.

I thought that the whole point of the hard shoulder was for breakdowns and emergency vehicles, therefore I think that these people were behaving unreasonably; thoughts?

Try Belgium - this is standard practice in a traffic jam.

In some motorways the hard shoulder gets used when traffic is bad. Not all though, I don't think.

Yes they're behaving irresponsibly but what can you do about it? I always hope they'll get pulled over by the police or get punctures from all the debris that ends up on the hard shoulder.

YANBU. It is totally irresponsible and you are correct about use only for breakdowns and emergency vehicles. I have seen people zooming past on the hard shoulder and wondered what would happen if they rounded a bend and hit at 90 a car which had broken down. Scary thought.

The police will often 'do' people for this.

Only acceptable if it is a stretch where it says it is permissable.

In life in general you will always get people who think rules are not for them - and as soon as one excuse/exemption or plain too important for rules card carrier sticks their head over parapet - the huffy indignant - well I'm not sitting here if theyre doing it - just follow.

YANBU. it's against the law, and it prevents the emergency services getting where they need to go.

echo Blu that they sometimes do people for it.

Or as my dad used to say - 'If they stuck their hand in the fire would you ?' - be good to put that in lights over the hard shoulder lane in these situations.

seems that there weren't any mners doing this on Sunday then

Alex Ferguson did that and got away with it by claiming he needed a piss :)

Presumably those particular police weren't City fans...

May I recommend a travel potty to Alex Ferguson;came in handy for us (DD to be exact) on Sunday, I can tell you

Urrgh it infuriates me too... always wonder what makes them so special!

We were stuck like that on the M1 the other day and people were doing that, it is so so infuriating. What gives them the right to jump the queue? Lots of people were walking about whilst waiting and I can proudly say a lot of us took our time ambling off the hard shoulder so they could drive past :P. I can't help hoping they'll all just get stuck behind something broken down round the next bend.

On the junction I use to leave the M5 to visit my parents there is sometimes a tail-back on to the main carriageway. People use this (incl me) rather than queuing on the m-way. The alternative is...? What?

Does he turn his off? I would start turning his back on everytime he turns it off

woops - wrong thread!

@ orm

To wait!

Wait? Sit in a stationary queue with traffic hurtling past at 90mph It doesn't mean we get off the mway any quicker but it's simply safer and doesn't hold up the rest of the mway traffic.

lol dueling - I know where you were suppose to be

I'd wait unless it was a very short stretch (not more than 100m or so) and I could see it was completely clear. Its just dangerous to block the hard shoulder. Imagine if it was a member of your family that had been in an accident and urgently needed medical help and the paramedics couldn't get there in time because other traffic was blocking the hard shoulder.