SpikeOne wrote:If neccessary, I would say, "Sod the law", and stay alive!
And if that means stopping on the hard shoulder, then do it, and argue your corner at a later date if neccessary.
You may need to suffer the consequences, but you can't get a life for the price of a fine and a couple of points.
You could always use those Police Car ramp things! Or at least just beyond them, to shelter you from the path of errant vehicles.
I do believe that in extreme rainfall - ie utter torrential downpours, not normal very heavy rain, it might well be justified to pull over. There are times, even in the car, when the rain can be so extreme that you can see very little, and traffic speeds consequently go down to 30mph or so even on an M-way. These downpours are normally very short lived so you shouldn't be nabbed by the fuzz. In any event, as the hard shoulder is provided for emergency purposes, I would thought that you were entitled to argue that extreme weather, so bad that it was unsafe to continue, would constitute a valid emergency. Its not as though you were picnicking or stopping for a fag....