Hi, tapping your brake can have repercussions believe me, there are some knb heads out there that would not think anything of putting you in the ditch & the A1 is full of them, what I can see here, I gather you are female! this happens a lot with female drivers they get intimidated by a lot of male drivers. In your case Hands free or no Hands free I would have phoned the police given them your location, the law would have used their discretion regards your driving whilst using your phone, another way to stop this switch on your rear fog lights until the clown passes you or place a High Vis Jacket on the parcel shelf if travelling at night.