A Matrix fan was caught by cops after they spotted him viewing the action movie while driving.

In a tweet, Kent Police roads unit announced: "There was a glitch in the Matrix for this driver who was watching the original on his phone."

The tweet was posted just before 10pm on Tuesday. It did not reveal where the vehicle was stopped but it showed a photo of the inside of the driver's car with a mobile phone attached to the windscreen.

The science fiction film, first released in 1999, stars Keanu Reeves as Neo who is trying to escape from self-aware machines which have imprisoned mankind in a world of virtual reality.

Police later confirmed the motorist had been stopped on the M20 near Ashford.

A spokesman said: "At 9.35pm on Tuesday an officer from Kent Police’s roads policing unit stopped a vehicle near Junction 10A of the M20 after noticing what appeared to be moving images on a device mounted to its windscreen.

"Upon stopping the vehicle the officer established that the driver, a man in his 20s, had been playing a film on his mobile phone. He was issued with a Traffic Offence Report for using a motor vehicle on a road when cinematographic apparatus was visible to him."

In reply to the original tweet, one man joked: "What if I told you driving whilst distracted could send you down a different hole altogether…"

Another asked: "How can you watch a movie while driving? Suicidal. Thank you for stopping them. It could have been worse. Have a great shift and be safe."

The movie also starred Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity and Monica Bellucci as Persephone.

There are now three more movies in the franchise, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolution from 2003 and The Matrix 4 which was released this year.

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