Police called to reports of a dead body on the M60 motorway arrived at the scene only to discover a man having a nap on the hard shoulder.

       The unnamed male was found snoozing on the road side shortly before 7am on Wednesday morning.

       He told attending officers he had decided to walk home along the highway – which circles Manchester – following a night out but had become tired and taken “a nap”.

       He was only discovered after several drivers called police believing they had seen a dead body as they drove past, close to junction 7 near Stretford.

       In a tweet, Greater Manchester Police’s traffic department said that officers had “just attended the M60 J7 following reports of a body on the motorway, turned out to be a male who decided to use the M60 to walk home, got a little tired + decided to have a nap on the hard shoulder.”

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       It added that the man had been had been hit with a traffic offence report and removed from the motorway.

       He is, however, not the first person found snoring on the hard shoulder.

       Highways England has previously said that one of the most common reasons drivers give when found illegally parked on emergency lane is that they were feeling tired and decided to stop for a sleep.

       More than 100 people every year are killed or seriously injured on the hard shoulder in the UK.