A man has been arrested after getting caught hogging the middle lane of the M4.

Wiltshire Police's Roads Policing Unit (RPU) were patrolling on the busy motorway when they came across a Volvo driver who was staying in lane two when he could have moved across to lane one. 

Officers decided to pull the driver over and discovered that the driver was in the process of working when they were not permitted to do so via the terms of their visa. 

This ultimately led to the man being arrested and interviewed by officials from the UK Home Office. 

The incident was posted onto the Wiltshire Specialist Operations Twitter/X page, which provides updates on both the Roads Policing Unit, and the county force's Armed Response Group (ARG)

The full post said: "RPU had this vehicle maintain lane 2 with no vehicles to its near side along the M4 today.

"Stop check revealed the driver working whilst not permitted to do so on his visitor's visa. This earnt him a trip to custody to be interviewed by UK Home Office."

It was accompanied by the hashtag 'Arrested'. 

Rules on 'middle-lane hogging'

Firstly, the Highway Code specifies that: "You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past."

However, despite this it is still a persistent problem on many motorways.

As a result, middle-lane hogging is classed as a traffic offence under 'careless driving' legislation, therefore making it illegal.

New laws introduced in 2013 gave police officers the power to hand out on-the-spot fines of £100 and three penalty points, meaning that drivers who don't return to lane one could face a financial penalty. 

According to the RAC, during busy periods, middle-lane hogging can cause congestion as traffic funnels through the outside lane to pass a lane hogger.

If the driver in the middle lane moved over, the same traffic could be split over two lanes.

Many also see staying in the middle lane as selfish, because if someone is correctly following the Highway Code and driving in the inside lane when they catch up with a middle-lane hogger, they then need to move across two lanes to overtake the lane hogger to avoid ‘undertaking’.

This also means the overtaker has to complete four lane changes in total, instead of two.