A driver from Rochdale was stopped by motorway police attempting to make a 400 round trip to Essex to buy a new car.
Officers pulled over the car on M11 at midnight on Tuesday.
The three occupants told police they were out to buy a new car, in a blatant contradiction of the lockdown rules on essential travel.
According to police, the car was travelling from Rochdale to Essex.
Officers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit arrested the driver after he failed a drugs wipe.
The unit tweeted: "M11 vehicle stopped, three occupants of the car were off to Essex to buy a new car (at midnight, from Rochdale) but their adventure was cut short when the driver was arrested for failing a drug wipe. #EssentialTravelOnly."
Motorists should not be travelling on the roads during the coronavirus pandemic unless it is essential travel.
The exceptions to the rule are if they are a key worker travelling to and from work, buying essentials like food and medicine or delivering essentials to a vulnerable person.
