Overtaking on the left, commonly known as undertaking, can result in prosecution for careless driving, carrying a £100 fixed penalty and three points on your driving licence, police have clarified.
Rule 268 of the Highway Code states: "Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake." However, there are exceptions: if traffic is moving slowly in queues and the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left, and if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right.
Police stance on undertaking
The Ask The Police website, an official police resource, states: "Overtaking on the left is lawful if done in accordance with the above guidance." It adds: "Whilst there is no specific offence of overtaking on the left, if a driver undertook another vehicle, other than in the circumstances described above, eg in the case of someone hogging lane two on a motorway, they may be prosecuted for careless driving."
The fixed penalty for careless driving is £100 and three points. If the offence is deemed serious, it could be processed through the courts, where motorists may face steeper penalties. Drivers need not be caught in the act by police; other motorists can submit camera footage to Operation Snap, a police scheme across numerous UK forces enabling the public to report driving offences with digital video or photographic evidence.
Exceptions and why it is banned
Rule 268 specifies: "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." Rule 163 adds that you can overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right and there is room to do so.
Police highlight the main reason for avoiding overtaking on the left: "Other drivers may not see you and suddenly move back to the left." TikTok account Big Jobber, which offers guidance on motoring regulations, says: "There is a very good reason why this is a 'two wrongs don't make a right' situation. How often do you see a middle lane hogger moving dangerously from the middle lane to the slip road without checking that it's clear and safe to do so?"
Big Jobber adds: "And do you realise that in the UK, right-hand side, or off-side safety checks, are emphasised way more than left-hand side, or near-side, safety checks. That's because the default driving position in the UK is to the left-hand side so it's kind of expected that vehicles would return to the left. And that is why passing on the left is a hazard and why it will be prosecuted as an offence if executed outside of the very few parameters that the Highway Code allows."
"Two wrongs don't make a right. Passing on the left creates a hazard, it increases the risk of a collision and can be extremely dangerous and potentially fatal," the account concludes.
