Van driver banned for ignoring motorway incident road block

A van driver who ignored a Highways England road block on the UK’s M42 motorway has been banned from driving for six months. The case highlights the need for incident zone safety: the road block had been put in place by traffic officers following a fatal crash. Richard Leonard, head of road safety at Highways England, said: “We hope this case sends out an important message because those who ignore road closures put other people’s safety in jeopardy and this was clearly the case here for our traffic officers
October 18, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

A van driver who ignored a 8101 Highways England road block on the UK’s M42 motorway has been banned from driving for six months.

The case highlights the need for incident zone safety: the road block had been put in place by traffic officers following a fatal crash.

Richard Leonard, head of road safety at Highways England, said: “We hope this case sends out an important message because those who ignore road closures put other people’s safety in jeopardy and this was clearly the case here for our traffic officers.”

Carl Phillip Bloom drove his white Mercedes van around cones via the hard shoulder on 20 January last year to avoid the road closure between junctions 2 and 1 of the southbound M42

In addition to being disqualified by magistrates in Kidderminster, Bloom was fined £880 and ordered to pay £620 costs and a £44 victim surcharge. He also had three penalty points added to his licence.

Leonard added: “Any decision to close the motorway is not taken lightly, but when this happens, drivers must obey the closure. It’s there for the safety of everyone on the road – people in difficulty, recovery and emergency services helping them, and all other road users besides.”

By law, drivers must obey directions from uniformed traffic officers, who have the power to stop and direct traffic and close lanes and carriageways.

Failure to comply carries a fine of up to £1,000 along with possible driving licence endorsement or disqualification.

Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Highways England cracks down on tailgating
    January 12, 2021
    'Don’t be a Space Invader,' agency tells drivers who are not leaving safe braking distance
    Read More
  • Bournemouth council urges residents to avoid social media ‘taxi’ service
    November 21, 2018
    People in the UK resort of Bournemouth are being warned not to use a ‘lifts-for-cash’ service which is operating in the town. A closed Facebook group called ‘Bournemouth & Poole town lifts’ has more than 7,000 members but council leaders say the service could be illegal. Members communicate via social media. Once accepted, they can ask for trips, talk to drivers or make money by using their vehicle as a taxi. But Nananka Randle, licensing team manager, planning and regulatory services, at Bournemouth Bo
    Read More
  • IAM Roadsmart: drivers must be more alert to protect pedestrians
    May 25, 2018
    UK charity IAM RoadSmart is urging drivers to be more alert as pedestrians now make up a quarter of all road deaths on the country’s roads. IAM refers to figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2016 – the most recent figures available - which revealed 448 pedestrians were killed. This is an increase of 10% over 2015 - the DfT says drivers failed to look in 42% of crashes while pedestrians did not look in 54% incidents. In addition, a fifth of drivers failed to judge the other perso
    Read More
  • New system to prevent Hazchem and over-height vehicles entering tunnel
    August 20, 2015
    An impending move to free-flow charging prompted a search for automated dangerous goods identification and over-height detection systems at the Thames Crossing to the east of London. Manned toll booths are increasingly being consigned to history by the onslaught of all-electronic charging. However, a secondary function of the traditional manned plazas has been to prevent non-compliant vehicles using the facility or to tell a driver that that they need to use a specific lane or wait for an escort. Automating
    Read More

Highlighted Content