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Lancashire police have issued a warning to drivers about motorway safety after CCTV images emerged of children playing football and frisbee on the M6 carriageway.
Other images show drivers walking down a closed motorway carriageway to access a nearby service station.
The extraordinary scenes were captured after an incident on 31 August when police had to stop traffic on the M6 in both directions near to Junction 33 due to a report of a distressed man on a bridge.
“Within a few minutes, a number of motorists held in the blocks thought it was acceptable to get out of their vehicles to see what was going on,” Lanchasire police shared in a Facebook post.
They added: “Some people allowed their children to run freely on the carriageway and others began to play frisbee and football. Unbelievably a number of motorists abandoned their cars and went into the services, with many crossing to the opposite side of the motorway.”
The abandoned cars caused further delays as a number of cars were left empty on the motorway when the road was reopened.
There were also drivers who refused to move as their passengers had abandoned the car and then couldn’t return to their vehicles once the traffic started flowing again.
The post ended by reminding motorists that the best course of action during road closures is to stay in their vehicles unless otherwise instructed.
Lancashire police shared: “Whilst we understand that some motorists will have found themselves in a frustrating situation, these people put themselves and others in a very dangerous position. They also impeded officers getting to the scene of the emergency, and significantly delayed the motorway traffic from flowing freely again.
“We are seeing this happening more and more, with people thinking this behaviour is acceptable when it is clearly not. It is creating a dangerous situation and causing officers to detract from dealing with the initial cause of the delay. Our officers will always work to get traffic moving as quickly as possible, but this will not be at the expense of safety. The motorway can be a dangerous place, and that danger may not be immediately obvious.
“We urge people who find themselves in a tailback on the motorway to remain in their vehicles and to await instruction or direction from the Police or National Highways. Let us be able to concentrate on dealing with the initial emergency to get you moving as soon as possible.”
Last year, police captured CCTV footage of a driver on the M6 taking two hands off the wheel to drink a cup of tea.
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