TRAFFIC was brought to a standstill on a stretch of the A1(M) during rush hour yesterday (Tuesday) evening while police chased a man along the hard shoulder of the motorway. Officers were sent to the bridge over the motorway in Fishers Green, Stevenage, a

TRAFFIC was brought to a standstill on a stretch of the A1(M) during rush hour yesterday (Tuesday) evening while police chased a man along the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Officers were sent to the bridge over the motorway in Fishers Green, Stevenage, at 5.35pm after a member of the public reported seeing a man in a distressed state.

But by the time officers arrived the man had disappeared. Police then got a number of calls from motorists on the motorway saying they had seen a man staggering along the hard shoulder.

Police then went down on to the motorway hard shoulder and the man was eventually spotted. He ran off but was chased and arrested for being drunk and incapable.

The man, aged 25 and from Twickenham, was later released without being charged. But both south and northbound carriageways of the motorway remained slow moving for over an hour as traffic had built up in both directions for several miles as officers halted vehicles fearing the man might run across the road.