Interesting debate, did the driver do the right thing in pulling into the hard shoulder? when i took my hgv test a few years ago i asked the instructor that very question, should you pull in if it is safe to do so? the reply i got was "no it's illegal, dangerous, you can not and do not do it", now i had been driving buses/coaches for several years at this stage and would fairly regularly perform this action when safe to do so. So when i was asked this question on the test i was obviously hesitant to answer, i confusingly answered "yes.....no" to which the examiner replied "well, which is it", i went on to explain the reasons for the confusion; driving buses i would sometimes do it, the instructor saying not to do it, and the Rules of The Road quoting that you may do it WHEN SAFE TO DO SO, the examiner then said when driving a large slow moving vehicle that was holding up the speed of normal traffic not only are you allowed to but you should and would be expected to use the shoulder. The most important fact here is the repeated statement of "when safe to do so", for me nothing is more important that safety, i completely agree with the above post regarding that and i also don't let people off at lights/junctions/non-official stops and regularly get abused for not doing so, but i can judge when it is safe to temporarily use the shoulder to allow the traffic to pass and will do it extremely rarely, and only when i can see it to be clear and free of side entrances for a considerable distance. So i assume any driver that does the considerate thing by using the shoulder is confident that it is safe for him/her to pull in and allow traffic to pass and pull out within the distance seen to be clear, and if nesessary be prepared to take avoiding action should the need arrise. So, did the driver do the right thing? yes, he judged it to be safe and performed the correct manouver.