Quebec's provincial police force is probing a video on Youtube that apparently shows a pair of officers sleeping in their squad car.

The video was shot by a passerby on Thursday morning, who walked up to the Surete du Quebec cruiser and exclaimed, "They're sleeping on the job!"

Inside the car, the video shows the officers reclined in their vehicle. The cruiser was parked along a stretch of Highway 40 northeast of Montreal.

But as the amateur videographer crept up to the window of the squad car, the officers get up, the video shows.

The police then asked for the passerby's licence.

After the licence was handed over, the officers wrote up a $156 ticket for parking in an emergency zone.

The man who shot the video is fighting the ticket. The Surete du Quebec says it's looking into the matter.

With files from The Canadian Press