Highways England have revealed some of the bizarre excuses motorists gave for parking their vehicle on a motorway hard shoulder.

In one case, traffic officers discovered a child stood on the motorway hard shoulder next to a parked car. The parents - sat inside the car - said the child had been misbehaving and needed a 'time out.'

On another occasion, police came across a family who thought it was appropriate to park up, get out and congregate on the hard shoulder to cook a meal because they were hungry.

Elsewhere drivers clearly thought they were taking all the necessary safety precautions when they pulled over to use their mobile phones.

One said they were waiting for an urgent text and then going to respond. Another had walked down the embankment next to the M1 carriageway to try and get signal for his sat nav - leaving his three passengers sat in the car with no hazard warning lights flashing on during a foggy day.

Motorists stop on the M62 hard shoulder during stationary traffic

Perhaps the most difficult offence to understand was the reason a lorry driver gave for abandoning his LGV in a live motorway lane. The driver returned to his vehicle and the waiting traffic officers on the M1 near to Northampton Motorway Services after 15 minutes. Apparently he would rather walk to the services rather than use the lorry park.

Highways England released the list of excuses along with a warning that this sort of behaviour can have disastrous consequences.

Simon Jones, Highways England, said: “Drivers often think the hard shoulder is a safe place to stop but over 100 people are killed or injured on the hard shoulder every year.

"We don’t want you to become one of those statistics; we want you to stay safe.”

To illustrate the dangers of the motorway hard shoulder Highways England also released CCTV footage of a car losing control on a motorway and skidding into a parked van.