Wanderer Vagabond

I think we all accept that the fool sitting in the middle lane is both breaching the Highway Code and breaking the law, but it doesn't authorise you to break the law to pass them (sadly).

I believe you may be giving incorrect advice here, what you are referring to only applies in congested conditions on motorways;- Highway Code Rule 268 Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake The circumstances described were of a clear motorway with a half wit hogging the middle lane. Unless you want to go to a lot of trouble, legally dealing with these idiots is difficult. If you have a dash-cam and can show that the vehicle was driving inconsiderately by unnecessarily staying in the overtaking lane for an extended period, you can report the matter to the Police who can deal with it by way of fixed penalty and points on the licence, how enthusiastic they will be to deal with it is debatable.

To be honest that is a separate issue to the 'smart' motorway matter. The numpties you refer to have this odd belief that motorways are comprised of three lanes; Slow, Medium and Fast so if they want to go 'fast' (your 65mph) they are dull enough to sit in the outside 'fast' lane regardless of traffic. What they need to learn is that motorways are actually one 'driving' lane with either two or three 'overtaking' lanes, but getting that through their thick skulls is almost impossible. I always used to find an area where this thinking was particularly prevalent was on the M5 approaching or leaving Bristol where you could find the outside lane 'fast lane?' with nose to tail traffic in it with the other two lanes virtually empty to such a degree that I have been overtaking traffic on the outside lane whilst in the inside lane with an empty lane between us. They tend to glare at me when I do this but I do resist the temptation to 'give them the finger'. If they used the d*mn road how it was designed to be used we'd all get along a bit quicker.