READERS have shared their concerns following a story we ran about a man who was almost killed after breaking down on the M5.

Garry Bennett broke down in lane one of the smart motorway just before junction 5, and was almost hit by a HGV.

One reader said: "Smart motorways are nothing more than hazardous pieces of road that put people's lives in danger. The so-called benefit of these motorways to improve the flow of traffic and reduce congestion is utter nonsense and a complete lie as they do the complete opposite while the continuous, focused attention on your speedometer is a hazard.

"Then there is the big issue of when a vehicle breaks down because the driver has no safe area like a hard shoulder to pull on to. While it's very good news that no more new smart motorway schemes will be rolled out. It's disappointing that the Highways England are not removing existing smart motorways and reinstating these roads to how they were before, including reintroducing hard shoulders, they are deliberately making an informed choice to put people's lives in danger."

A Highways England spokesperson said: “We understand that breaking down is not a pleasant experience on any road and appreciate how distressing this must have been for the driver. As soon as we were alerted to this incident, we set signs to alert drivers. Our traffic officers then arrived to move the vehicle off the motorway while the lane was closed with a red X sign.

“Meanwhile we are determined to do all we can to make our roads as safe as possible, and we will continue to work tirelessly to keep England’s motorways among the safest in the world.”

In the original story Mr Bennett praised who he referred to as 'The Traffic Police' for coming to his aid. It has since come to light that the people who rescued Mr Bennett were indeed from Highways England.