Police have slammed drivers who 'ignored' lane closures and used the hard shoulder to skip queues amid two huge smashes on one motorway.
No less than 70 drivers were spotted using the hard shoulder as well as two lanes closed with red crosses, visible on the gantries, along the M60 near junction 13 for Swinton and Worsley, says Greater Manchester Police.
Lanes were closed as emergency services rushed to two crashes on the M60 on Friday afternoon (June 11), including a 'multi-vehicle' collision near junction 13 and a two-vehicle crash between junctions 24 and 23, with congestion backing up as a result.
Traffic officers from GMP and North West Motorway Police were left exasperated as they watched drivers disobeying the signals.
The images of drivers skipping queues prompted them to put out messages today (June 12), reminding people of their 'hard work to clear the scenes and allow traffic to move'.
In a post on Twitter, traffic officers hit out at the drivers, saying: "#ME54, #XT54, #XT14, and #XTS4 attended an multi-vehicle RTC on the ACW M60 at Junction 13.
"Red 'X' had been placed over lanes two and three.
"To the 70 drivers who ignored the red X and used the hard shoulder to try and pass, your notice of prosecution is in the post."
Traffic officers added an image of the red cross signal which read: "Red cross with flashing beacons - this is applicable to all lanes, including the hard shoulder, and means that you must not proceed any further in this lane."
North West Motorway Police added: "After the two RTC's yesterday on the M60 our patrols worked very hard to clear the scenes to allow traffic to move, to all who stayed in their lanes a big thank you for obeying the signals.
"Unfortunately, 70 drivers failed to adhere to the red Xs, they will be contacted shortly."
