2000TLondon

Got pulled by an unmarked police car tonight.

Stupidly I answered my phone, I have a cradle but it came off yesterday, but the call was brief enough for me to say, on loudspeaked, I'll call back, but a law is a law, so hands up.

As I've tossed the phone back on the seat, I notice a car right up my @rse, half way in each lane, I'm moving across to the right and he is almost touching me, so I accelerate and move across safely in front of him.

The car then pulls up beside me at the lights, and the driver shouts at the top of his voice "OI! PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE!" so I just shrugged and looked away thinking he was airing his opinion. Some people do get bothered by these sorts of things after all. He shouts again, "PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN" and he's being so aggressive that again I sort of shrug but look away, at which point he goes from being aggressive to just ranting "YOU GOT A PROBLEM? WHATS YOUR PROBLEM?" and the passenger is just staring at me. So I reply "Whatever, mate" or similar, at which point he flashes his warrant card and tells me to pull over.

I was dubious about pulling over, so said "Didn't mean to be rude, but you were right up my @rse and you were shouting at me" but he still wants me to pull in, so we set off from the lights and I pull over. I wait for him to come to me and lock my doors, not knowing they really are OB, he shows me his ID again and asks me to get out.

"You were on your phone and speeding" he starts off with. So I reply "Granted, I answered my phone and I shouldn't off, but the speeding, you were right up my @rse forcing me to accelerate or hit you." He replied "The difference is I have a permit to break the speed limit" in a smug way whilst his mate checked out my licence. "That doesn't apply all the time though," I told him and I asked why he started shouting at me, apparently he said "OI" because he didn't know my name?!?!?!? So basically I think he realised he was well out of line, and let me off with a warning, but I was really quite annoyed about the whole thing but thought it better to just drive off.

It did occur to me at first they might be a couple of geezers trying to jack me, as they were so un-police like, that I considered losing them at first.

I told him I didn't expect to be spoken to like that by a policeman, plain clothed or not.

Anyway, weird experience I thought I'd share.....

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Very strange. Does not sound like a great experience. I'd have been tempted to get his number, but its probably better that you just parted company.

Hopefully the next person he spoke to was when he was in a better mood.

yoza

Two bored kidda's me thinks.........

You can buy fake warrent cards, and badges off the internet.

If in doubt, say " Ill meet you at the local nick. "

If they dont follow, report them, if they do, get ready to look like a ****.

Ubik

Probably the wisest course of action. Even so pretty bad form if he was a police man!

Turbohot

I have had it with Police when I left my foggies on.He pulled me over,talked disrepectfully and patronised me to f*ck.On the caution slip, he wrote my name intentionally wrong( I have an ethnic name ).I did make an informal complaint so that he wouldnt treat people like this again.Hope not anyway.

Ubik

Thinking about it, he knows your address now after seeing your licence. In your situation I would report it. If its all above board and he is the plod than well thats ok (you know what I mean).

2000TLondon

They ran a check on me with the hand held radio next to me, they were defo old bill and it was a proper local ID, from the second time he showed me close up.

There's no way I would have got out if I really thought they were just trying it on, i'm not too gullible!!!!

Just ignorant and chav like (him, not me) the passenger was relatively professional, did the check and what not, the driver was just an @rsehole.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Make a formal complaint since we are certain they were the bill. The paperwork that will cause him and his boss will make him think about doing it again, even though nothing will come of it this time.

Ubik

Phew glad its the proper old bill and you can sleep easy tonight, although a little mad.

Chalk this one down to experiance but if it happens again report it.

LOL, thats it. Get it out of your system, crack open a tin of larger and try and forget it. Its all done and dusted, at the end of the day you got off with a telling off and he got to play the 'big man'.

Good cop, chav cop? LOL

2000TLondon

Ah, I hadn't thoguht of that! I'll keep my keys and bat next to the bed tonight!



Will make a call in the morning to see if I did have a check run on me to be 101% sure.

Would have defo complained if he had tried to ticket me.

I felt relatively safe when I pulled in as we had both been through the congestion charge and ring of steel CCTV cameras in London.

Thanks for the address tip mate.

WRXPete

That's too weird....you say the car was unmarked, did they actually have blue lights? And were they in uniform...because if not, they couldn't have given you a ticket or pulled you over, even if they are real cops. They should not be pulling someone over by getting up your ****, shouting out the window and flashing their badge. They should be using blue lights and headlights at a safe distance or getting a proper car to do the job for them
If you got any details of them at all, i'd be seriously tempted to report it!!
That behaviour is totally unacceptable

gsm1

I'd report him.
I was pulled over by a Special once in an unmarked car. He drove up my backside while flashing his lights like a crazy man. I just thought he was a loon. Then he overtook me and slammed his car in at an angle almost making me crash into the pavement. He then got out to tell me that my nearside headlamp was out of sync.
I've had plenty more experiences with coppers, too long to tell, just trying to push their weight around.

ajm

What I don't get is why he was shouting at you to put your phone down when you had already tossed it back in the seat?

Patt@firstime

I've been pulled over before by a normal marked car, he flashed me so I indicated and pulled up against kerb-he stopped next to me and shouted 'SWITCH THAT CAR OFF-TURN YOUR ENGINE OFF!!!' So I did then he shouted 'MOVE THAT CAR OFF THE ROAD! WTF!!! So I started the engines and pulled into a nearby entrance to an industrial estate where another 3 cop cars arrived and blocked me in- ALL FOR A ******* PRODUCER to really take the p1ss I'd had one the night before in the same car

P.S I'd done nothing wrong either time (there were more times it happened).

hugo

You should have asked for his official police ID number. I believe all policemen/women are obliged to give this information at any time. I'd be seriously worried about getting my front door kicked-in for the keys in the next day or 2. Definitely report it. Did you get the reg no of the car?

2000TLondon

Just on the phone to the police now, really helpful officer is going off to check if my reg was run...

He was concerned about him shouting too!

Will update shortly!

2000TLondon

Well, the guy at the local police station has restored my faith in the police again, really good bloke.

Anyway, he was a copper, my reg did get run, so that's a relief of sorts, was getting a little paranoid about a set-up the more I thought about it.

Just assume he had had a rough day, was slightly nutty or was jealous of the Subaru

Replaced my handsfree cradle today!!!

Spoon

Think about it.

You throw a phone onto the passenger seat, it hits the left edge of the bucket and bounces directly back into your hand.

Had he threw it harder and a little later it could have been successfully directed into the officers hand as they pulled up alongside.

Then the tables could have been turned on the officer and a charge of theft could have been filed too against the loud mouthed túrd.

N.B The window *must* be open for this trick.

RR

Depending on traffic, and if they were in plain clothes and unmarked car i would have left there **** box for dead. A similar thing happened to me, but i was doing 70mph on a dc where the speed limit was 70mph and a skoda octavia rs (un-marked) started to tailgate me for no reason. I thought something was not right, and i left the dc and rejoined and the car followed me. I knew i had done nothing wrong, and he went back to being so close his headlights were obscured. I almost phoned the police on the hands free as it was that odd. When a car managed to get inbetween us and hold it up i went for it and put a massive gap between us to the point i lost him. The police phoned the house and started quizzing my wife about why she had used excessive speed the night before and what she had to hide. She grassed me up, and they left a number for me to contact some knobber on to explain myself. I never bothered my **** and i have not heard anything back.

I have also seen an unmarked T5 racing a marked omega.I wish i had a video camera.

Here's an Idea...i would have thought that they could have got my reg, stayed a sensible distance behind, do what they had to, put the lights on, pull me for whatever get an explanation, or charge me. But i think in the states they call in entrapment. They were after a rise i am sure. All they have to do is there job in a polite friendly manner. Being a **** seems to be a qual to be a traffic knobber,