Police told a speeding driver travelling at 85mph on a motorway to “consider it their lucky day” after they were overtaken by an even faster car.

The incident happened on the M20 in Kent when a traffic patrol car was behind a blue Volkswagen, which reached speeds of 85mph on the motorway.

However, before officers could pull over the driver, a Mercedes sped past at 106mph, adverting their attention yesterday morning.

In a post on social media site X, Kent Road Policing, said: “If you were the driver of a blue VW doing 85mph on the M20 this morning with Roads Policing behind measuring your speed, consider it your lucky day.

“This Mercedes overtook you at well over 100mph and took our priority service.”

The Department for Transport reported that, in 2018, 46% of cars broke the limit when driving on motorways.

While travelling at 80mph, or even 75mph on a motorway may be commonplace for some, any speed over 70mph is illegal.

It may be rare, but motorists can be penalised even for doing 71mph.

National Police Chiefs’ Council has suggested motorists should be allowed a 10% margin of error for the lowest levels of speeding, to take into account driver concentration and speedometer errors.

However, these are just guidelines, and police can use their own discretion when handing out tickets.

Speeding up to 20mph and over will land offenders three points on their license and a fine worth 25-75% of their weekly income.