A traumatised driver has been told there will be no criminal investigation after a fake police officer ordered her to stop on a motorway.

The unnamed woman said the man waved what appeared to be a police warrant card as he drove alongside her on the M1 in Leicestershire.

The female driver said she did not stop - fearing a repeat of the Wayne Couzens case.

Couzens used his police warrant card to falsely arrest Sarah Everard in March 2021 before he raped and murdered her.

The woman, using the pseudonym Lisa, said that she reported the man and gave police his car registration.

It has now been revealed that the driver was not an officer, but he had worked for the police.

Lisa said the man was "a fake policeman who wanted to do me harm".

In March 2023, she was driving alone northbound on the M1 and admitted she was speeding up to 80mph.

She claims a lone male driver then crossed in front of her and went further ahead in the outside lane before flashing a black wallet out of the driver’s window.

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"Immediately, I thought he’s a policeman. I’m speeding, I should pull over," she told the BBC.

She decided to move into the middle lane when the man slowed down so that he was driving parallel with her.

She said: "He leaned over holding the steering wheel with one hand. He was driving alongside me all the time, shouting to pull over. He was really angry. I felt really stressed.

"He’s looking at me, not the road ahead and the window wasn’t open on my side, but it was on his passenger side and he’s waving the badge that I can clearly see is a black wallet with a police crest badge stuck on the outside.

"I immediately thought of Wayne Couzens and David Carrick. I was genuinely frightened. I was shaking. I was gripping the steering wheel."

When she did not stop, the driver slowed down and left the motorway.

An investigation found that the man was not an officer but had worked in a civilian role with the force, working for a contractor, and had left the role months before Lisa reported him.

Northamptonshire passed the complaint to the Leicestershire force because Lisa was driving in its patch, and it needed to be dealt with as a crime report.

However, at this stage all CCTV footage from the time had gone and due to the delays, it was almost at the end of the six-month limit for prosecuting such an offence.

Leicestershire Police said: "Leicestershire police takes any report of impersonation of a police officer extremely seriously. However, on this occasion our response did fall below the expected standard."

The Professional Standards Department of Northamptonshire Police also apologised in a letter to Lisa.

Lisa added: "I feel really let down. I still feel sick, panicky and scared. I would say he was a fake policeman who wanted to do me harm.”

She has shared her story with family and friends: “Many women have said that because he appeared to be a police officer, they would have stopped.”