M6 driver caught drinking tea at wheel handed fine

The tea drinker was filmed on the M6 in Cheshire last summer by police using HGV cabs to film drivers from higher up

A tea-sipping driver who was filmed with both hands off the steering wheel as he drove along a motorway was just one of hundreds of motorists caught flouting the rules of the road.

He was filmed on the M6 in Cheshire last summer by police using HGV cabs to film drivers from an elevated position.

In the footage, the man can be seen drinking from a mug as a police officer tells him to concentrate on driving.

He was fined £100 for not being in proper control of his vehicle.

The driver was filmed as part of a wider operation that spotted dozens of other motorists putting lives at risk.

It was carried out by police in Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and Yorkshire, with further action planned on the M62 throughout October.

Hundreds of thousands of drivers travel on the M62 every day and in 2022 there were 28,607 incidents on the route.

Of those, 1,651 were traffic collisions, National Highways said.

Police caught another driver using his mobile phone in his left hand while steering with his right

During last year's operation on the M6, Merseyside Police found 30 people not wearing seatbelts, 59 using mobile phones and eight people not in proper control of their vehicle.

A further 140 people were found to have been speeding.

Consequences for drivers range from warnings to fines, court summons or arrest.

Lisa Scott, National Highways' regional safety programme manager, said: "Hundreds of thousands of drivers use our roads every day and the vast majority are sensible behind the wheel.

"However, some drivers are putting themselves and others at risk.

"We are committed to reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured while travelling on our roads by 50% by 2025 and we have a long-term ambition for zero harm.

"To achieve that we need to tackle the unsafe driving behaviour that we sadly still encounter."