A bizarre video has captured a man walking with two suitcases down a motorway slip road near Manchester Airport.
Footage shows a taxi driver being forced to slow down while overtaking the pedestrian on the A555 at around 9.40am yesterday.
Other vehicles can be seen hurtling past as the man, dressed in a dark blue coat and trousers, pauses to let the car pass while wheeling his luggage down the road.
The 38-year-old cabbie, who did not wish to be identified, filmed the clip after dropping off a passenger at the airport, which is approximately a 10 minute drive away.
He expressed bewilderment over the "mind-boggling" video and speculated the man may have been waiting to be picked up, reports Manchester Evening News.
The taxi driver said: “I was heading away from the airport towards the M56 and I thought, ‘What is this person doing?’
“I just couldn’t believe it. It's just not something you expect to see on the live motorway – there were cars going past him at 60mph.
"How can you not twig that you’re in the place you’re not supposed to be when you have cars whizzing past you?
"And where are you going to go with all the suitcases on the carriageway? It was absolutely mind-boggling; human stupidity has no bounds.
“Obviously he’s just arrived from somewhere and is trying to find someone. I reckon he must have been expecting someone to pick him up and they arranged a place to avoid paying the pick-up fee and got the wrong end of the stick."
The Highway Code states that pedestrians must not be on motorways or slip roads, except in an emergency.
He added: “I’m a taxi driver and I’m at the airport five times a day and the lengths people are willing to go to avoid paying the pickup and drop-off charge is mind-boggling.
"They’re being dropped off at roundabouts and in the middle of the road. I’ve seen people reversing down the one-way ramp to avoid the fee. I’ve seen it all.
“I was going to pull over and tell him he’s putting himself in danger but he gave me the look and I could see cars coming behind me and I didn’t want to cause more problems.”
Social media users also reacted to the clip, with one person posting: "Definitely wondering if they were trying to get to their pickup, as I've seen quite a few taxis and other cars waiting on hard shoulder."
And another speculated: "You can walk to Manchester Airport but not along the motorway. They are just trying to meet their taxi outside the paid pickup zone and went very wrong."
