Drivers staying in the middle lane of the motorway for no good reason have been stopped and spoken to by police.

Roads Policing Unit officers caught two cars flouting the rules of the road on the M4 during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

First, at around 1am, they noticed a BMW travelling along the empty motorway in lane two when there were no vehicles to overtake.

A stop check and a chat revealed that three of the car's four tyres had tread depths ranging from 0.93mm to 1.25mm, which were below the legal minimum tyre tread depth of 1.6 mm.

They reported the driver and prohibited the vehicle, then posted about the traffic stop on social media to encourage other drivers to check their own tyres.

A short time later, RPU stopped another vehicle which maintained its position in lane two while the motorway was empty.

This driver was nearly double the legal limit for alcohol, which is 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, and took the drunk into custody at the nearest police station.

The Highway Code states: "On a dual carriageway with three or more lanes, you may use the middle lanes or the right-hand lane to overtake but you should return to the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so."