A musical motorist has been snapped driving down the A27 with an electric guitar sat in his lap.

The driver appeared to be strumming away as he headed down the busy dual carriageway.

The photograph was snapped by bus passenger Nichola Carr on the A27 near Chichester as she was travelling from Crawley to Portsmouth.

She said she was shocked when she spotted him, and quipped “did not know you could drive and the play the guitar”.

In the picture the motorist has one hand on the guitar’s neck and the other on the silver car’s steering wheel.

The suited driver appears to be playing a five-string Warwick bass guitar which is worth approximately £500. Andrew Lord, owner of Brighton Guitars on Sydney Street, said the driver was “idiotic” to try and play while behind the wheel.

He said: “You need both hands to play – how on earth are you supposed to drive?”

“This is an absolute first for me. I have heard people doing other things while they drive – having sex, drinking, being on their phone, watching television – but never playing the guitar.”

A road safety expert at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) slammed the motorist saying: “It is clearly very dangerous.”

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM, said: “You cannot drive and play the guitar at the same time. We always say you cannot do two things at once if one of them is driving – this is first time I have heard of someone playing guitar at the wheel.

“We seem to get different variations of distractions behind the wheel every week with the amount of cameras around now. I have seen people with their laptop open, people watching films, everything from eating and drinking.”

He added: “People seem to think they can control a vehicle and do things at the same time.

“But people should also not put themselves in danger to catch someone else acting dangerously.”

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Playing guitar is just one of the crazy things motorists have been spotted doing while driving.

Truckers told Reader’s Digest some of the most bizarre things they have spotted while on the roads. A woman was spotted completely changing her outfit from a business suit to a leotard while she hurtled down the road. Another was seen leaning over into the passenger seat to change her baby’s nappy as she drove along. One man was seen with a paperback book taped to his steering wheel reading as he went. An American musical motorist was seen with a piano across his lap tapping out a tune behind the wheel. People have also been spotted knitting or sewing as they make long haul trips.