A dangerous driver committed a 'horrific' act when he braked in front of a white van on a controversial M5 smart motorway before he was told 'it's all on dashcam!'

Luke Partridge admitted dangerous driving northbound between junctions 5 (Droitwich) and 4a (Bromsgrove) when he appeared before magistrates in Worcester on Thursday.

His actions come as concerns are raised in Worcestershire about fatal crashes between junctions 4 and 6 which have been attributed by critics to the removal of the hard shoulder on 'smart motorways'.

Calls have been made nationally by the Commons' Transport Select Committee for the rollout of smart motorways to stop 'until five years of safety and economic data is available for every all-lane running scheme introduced before 2020 and the implementation of the safety improvements in the Government’s action plan has been independently evaluated'.

The 21-year-old defendant of Marine Gardens, Stourbridge, got in an altercation with a white van driver, Mr Butler, during the episode of bad driving while he was behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf on May 30 this year.

Ralph Robyns-Landricombe, prosecuting, said Partridge was spotted using his mobile phone and when the other drive indicated to him he should not be on the phone, the defendant gave a 'finger gesture'.

The prosecutor said the van driver moved to lane one and the defendant to lane four before Partridge 'moved in a deliberate action across the lanes and pulled in front of the vehicle and 'braked sharply, coming to a complete stop'.

"He put his head out of the window and verbally berated Mr Butler before driving off" said Mr Robyns-Landricombe. The prosecutor said Partridge had put both himself and other motorists in danger.

Partridge was shown dashcam footage of the incident by police and was said to be 'immediately contrite and was appalled by his behaviour'.

"He accepted the driving he had exhibited was not that of a reasonable or competent driver and was dangerous" said Mr Robyns-Landricombe.

The footage also showed Partridge 'sticking up his middle finger as he drives off'. The other driver said in a statement: "I told him it was all on my camera and I would report it."

Mr Ralph Robyns-Landricombe said the defendant's actions were 'highly dangerous on a smart motorway'. Partridge had no previous convictions.

"The Crown say this was a horrific piece of driving - not just once but on two occasions. It's prolonged bad driving involving deliberate disregard for the safety of others" he said.

The case was adjourned for a further hearing at Worcester Crown Court on December 2. A pre-sentence report will be prepared by the probation service in the meantime.

An interim disqualification was imposed.

According to Crash Map, there have been three fatal incidents on this stretch of road since it was completed in 2017, all three happening at Junction 5, which connects to the A38.

On July 30, 2018, two people were killed in a three-vehicle collision, then two weeks later, on August 13, another person was killed.

The most recent fatal crash came on June 26, 2020.