A MOTORIST who used the hard shoulder to escape rush hour traffic on Runcorn Widnes Bridge was caught red-handed by police.

Keith Bunt, 42, of Leyton Close, Higher Runcorn, told Runcorn magistrates he had held a clean driving licence for 24 years and that he did not believe he had committed an offence when police stopped him on November 5, 2003.

Mr Bunt, who pleaded not guilty to driving without due care and attention, said: "It was one of those times when you are sat there in the lane and the traffic isn't moving and the next lane is right in front of you."

Mr Bunt said he knew that using the hard shoulder for non-emergencies was illegal on motorways but believed, at the time, that this did not apply to expressways.

He said: "One of the reasons I didn't think I was committing an offence was that I had seen police officers doing the same thing recently."

"I do not believe I am guilty of driving without due care and attention because of the considerate way in which I drove down the hard shoulder.

"I drove slowly for only a few hundred yards, with my headlights and indicators on."

Chair of the bench for Runcorn magistrates, said: "We do have some sympathy for you in the way you perceived the law but that does not excuse you for driving without due care and attention on this occasion."

Mr Bunt was found guilty and fined £60, £150 costs, and given three points on his licence.