The way I see it, if I'm in lane 1 and cruise past slower moving traffic in lanes 2 and/or 3 without then moving into lane 2, then I'm not 'overtaking', it's just that they are in a slower traffic stream.
The number of times you see lane 1 empty with 2 & 3 with heavy traffic is depressingly common.
The other thing I've noticed lately are motorists hogging the third lane of a four lane 'smart' motorway. On more than one occasion I've had to go from the first lane to the fourth to overtake one of these drivers. It strikes me as being difficult for the police to pull them over even if they wished to as there's no hard shoulder anymore.
