‘I’m a motorway cop and these are the weirdest things I see – and the abuse I get’

Motorway patrol officers, who are crucial in keeping the country's traffic flowing, witness bizarre, risky and sometimes rude behaviour from drivers daily.

The blue, yellow and orange chequered cars of National Highways officers are a familiar sight on the M6 ^[1] and M42. However, many drivers are unaware or dismissive of the challenging and often hazardous nature of their jobs.

Speaking to BirminghamLive ^[2] from her post at the Bescot station on the M6, National Highways officer Sian Plant shared some of the strange and occasionally hostile behaviour she encounters from irate drivers.

'You can't park there'.

Sian has seen everything from people making last-minute decisions to exit at a junction and flipping their car, to those who run out of petrol so frequently they keep a Jerry can in their boot, and even cows falling out of lorries, reports Birmingham Live ^[4].

26 year old Sian said: "Some people just don't realise what job we actually do. We don't put a lane closure out unless we really have to. To make it safe for other motorists."

"A couple of days ago on the M5 closure [there were] quite a few diversions and quite a few angry motorists. They were calling us names out the window, clapping their horns, we only shut it because we had to."

"At the end of the day we are just doing our jobs, I get that it is frustrating but we only close things if we have to."

She also shared the frequent moan she hears from testy drivers.

"The main one that we get is 'you can't park there! '".

"We do get called bad names they just shout anything and everything."

What's shocking is that Sian has experienced many instances of sexist comments.

'I do get cat-called'.

"I do get cat-called I just ignore it, people will get out and shout abuse they are frustrated because they have been sat there for a while. It is usually the people further back who can't see what's going on."

A report from action group Think Respect reveals that 60% of all road workers and other public highway staff face daily verbal or physical abuse. In total, 2307 incidents were reported in 2023.

Incidents involved threats with a gun, a knife and attacks with a machete. Sian explained that most of the abuse often comes from drivers who have arrived towards the end of an incident and may not be aware of its seriousness.

She also clarified why it's sometimes essential to close an entire motorway: "If [the crash] is in lane three, to get it moved across to the hard shoulder we have to move it across the whole carriageway."

"Obviously it can be unsafe for motorists to get across it but a lot don't understand."

This is a typical day for Sian, who has been an officer for two years. Her day starts with checking the car and all the kit.

Then she goes on patrol to "strategic locations" on the M6 where they can deploy easily. What was the first thing she noticed when she started her role?

'We got the initial call of the cow in carriageway'.

"I did not realise how bad the driving standard could be" replied Sian. She also shared the unbelievable moment last August when a call came in that cows had fallen out of an HGV on the M6, causing chaos.

"A couple of cows that had fallen out of an HGV. A cow got dropped at junction 8 and further down at junction 10. We got the initial call of the cow in carriageway, we thought no it can't be."

"For any animals on the network, we have to close both sides of the carriageway. The cow job was not one we were expecting."

Sian explained that it was actually the police who found someone on the motorway with an empty trailer who helped herd the cows up.

One of the more basic yet surprising issues she encounters is people who have run out of fuel in the middle of the motorway. "There are quite a few instances where we have gone and it's not their first time that [running out of petrol] has happened to them," she said.

Sian, who works in shifts patrolling the region's network with a partner, has a straightforward message for all motorway users: "You need to be prepared".

References

^{^} the M6 (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
^{^} BirminghamLive (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
^{^} Met Office issues verdict on April heatwave as UK 'set to bake' (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
^{^} Birmingham Live (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
^{^} here (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
^{^} Coventry (www.coventrytelegraph.net)