The well-dressed commuter was looking at the newspaper for several seconds at a time, according to witnesses, before glancing at the road and then looking back at his paper.

Mr Dickson, from Blyth, Northumberland, said: "I was just laughing, it was so utterly bizarre but yet so dangerous.

"But I also couldn't help but think it just seemed totally impractical - he can't have been taking that much in."

He continued: "He was just sat there, with his right hand on the wheel and his left on the paper.

"When we first spotted him it looked like he was trying to keep his eyes open.

"All I could think was that what he was doing seemed totally impractical. I don't know what he was reading about - probably not much news.