Crafty/sneaky coppers
 

With obviously nothing better to do like catch real criminals they went round Finsbury Circus in London on Friday afternoon (which has a huge bike park) and proceeded to nick any bike that had the slightest reason for doing so and left fixed penalty notices stuck to the bikes :mad: :mad: :mad:

I got one for incorrect format of number plate :mad: wtf its the normal size and lettering and was on the bike when I bought it. I have been stopped numerous times by the police and not once have they ever mentioned anything about my number plate.

This is nothing more than tax collection and is fcuking distgusting behaviour :mad: Its also prejudice to bikes as they were picking on bike parks as opposed to standing out in the roads stopping traffic.

I called the police station when I got home but the person who answered it couldn't do anything to help me which I thought was fair enough.

I'm going in there tomorrow and gonna kick off big stylee and ask to see the cvnt of a copper who put the ticket on my bike and ask wtf it was for. I am going to tell them they can stick their fcuking ticket book up their arses and i'll see them in court - W4NKERS :mad:

(and yes there is a distinct possibilty I may be arrested/cautioned as I am that steaming mad about it) :mad:

Being stopped by a copper is one thing, deliberately targetting bike parks while the rider isn't there to answer is a fcuking joke and bang out of order. :mad: What next? Are they going to come on your property and do house to house searches and start issuing tickets??? :mad:

cant see why any1 would wanna become a fed jus to walk round givin out tickets. hardly a great career :( jus as popular as traffic wardens IMO :mad:

Bob

If its any consolation, they hit all the couriers in Smithfield Market as well...

But, it you're legal then theres no problem

Well Puff i'm assuming its not legal hence the ticket, the only thing I can see thats not standard is a slight (feint) criss cross pattern on the plate but is normal size and has normal lettering. What gets me is that why the hell has it never been mentioned to me before when I have been stopped. At least I could then have been given a producer and changed it. I never put it on the bike and it has a valid MOT etc.

Whether its illegal or not, the fact here is that the police deliberately went out and targetted bikes that were parked and the owners had no opportunity to ask what the tickets were for.

It was a money raising day and nothing else :mad: And that is what I am going to kick off about at the police station tomorrow :mad:

B2Z has your plate got the BS info on it? might they be doing you for that? Could still be argued that plate complies.
Think the police are out to criminalise us all. "Only doing my job" worths.

ARGHHHHHH !!!!!!!!

If you committ an offence, then you run the risk of being prosecuted/ticketed. If you don't agree with the ticket - argue it at court.

They often do purges on traffic groups (lorrys, bikes, new cars, old cars). If you bike is in ok order, why worry.

******** NEWS FLASH ********
Police enforce law shocker!

Read all about it...

Hmmm, I wonder if Burglars complain when caught by the police "Why are you picking on us burglars, why don't you go after real crims such as murderers, rapists etc."

:D

You break road rules you take the chance of being caught, simple. I know I do (speed limits etc.) but if caught I'd accept it, be pi$$ed off of course but don't really have a right to complain about being caught.

I think there is a difference between deliberately breaking the law and breaking the law through inattention to detail. Unfortunately the law doesnt see it that way.
all together now "The LAW is the LAW" Judge Dredd has truly arrived and Big Brother is truly watching. Civil liberty step back as freedom is constantly being eroded and innocent people are being criminalised. But thats ok cause we were just doing our job. :D

How are u innocent if you committ an offence..????

More serious offences receive a custodial sentence, minor ones you pay a fine. Simple.

Civil liberty..?? Freedom..?? what r u talking about..?????

Most traffic offences do not get crimed. Only death by dangerous i believe.

Pay your fine, learn your lesson, move on. Or disagree and argue it at court. There you are, your freedom to choose.

it is basically as simple as that, yes. the point i think being that such seemingly minor trivial things are a waste of resource that could be channelled elsewhere.

I knew someone would liken it to doing a serious offence like burgalry :rolleyes: So the police deliberately walking round visiting motorcycle parks is a good way to catch criminals is it when all they are likely to find are off size plates and race cans? Yeah thats catching real criminals. As someone said, they are no more than glorified traffic wardens out to raise funds by issuing as many tickets as they can, hence pick on big bike parks where they can get a lot of money in fines without having to give producers, something you would normally get when stopped on the road. The fact that my number plate is the normal size, has the correct lettering to me made me think its legal, I had no reason to think otherewise when I bought the bike so where exaclty have I been knowingly breaking the law Dracoro? I bought the bike as is and had no idea the plate was illegal merely for a feint pattern on it that does not obstruct or hide the lettering in any way. I also pointed out above my bike has been checked over several times by the police when stopped and never have they mentioned anything about my plate so how come some coppers think its fine and others think its illegal? All comes down to what they are out for on the day, and this time it was nothing more than revenue raising :mad:

Contest it in court if you think your plate's legal.

Make sure you're 100% sure it's not before going though.......

Felix you are right a non standard numberplate could really hurt someone - lets make everyone a criminal for being sold a bike that doesnt have a BS AU stamp on it or perhaps driving a vehicle with a defective headlight - but it was on when you left the house cause you checked - or driving too slowly or driving too fast.

When a law is passed forbidding farting in public you may struggle to remain an honest citizen. :razz:

B20 it may be that there is nothing wrong with your plate, i cant see a faint hatching being illegal. Maybe you are an innocent that has been slurred! :D

My bike plate is legal, just my cans arent cause im a rip snorting criminal. (Lord help us all) :D

Come on, cut them some slack, they are only doing thier jobs.

If they catch a real criminal, and by some fluke he actually goes to prison.

It will stress out the poor prison officers, and they will have to throw even more sickies.......:rolleyes:

You and I could start another debate here but just to restate my opinion ,which contradicts yours. You know, from your professional experience that many offences, which the public regard as serious, do NOT result in the offender receiving a custodial sentence.
That is one of the reasons why I, a white, middle class, middle aged male regard the Police as merely agents of a bankrupt, corrupt, political system.

Doesn't matter whether you 'knowingly' broke the law or not, ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law. You are responsible for ensuring your vehicle is legal, not anyone elses. Why are you pi$$ed with the police? Why not the people you bought the bike from?

The point of the burlary analogy is that resources have to be applied to as many laws as possible else all laws apart from murder/rape etc. would NEVER be enforced.

FWIW, I think it's a bit tight getting the fine for which is a minor offence that could/should be dealt with in a more appropriate way (a warning, chance to fix the problem etc.) however the FACT remains that ever since you've had the bike you've been breaking the law (unless in fact the plate is actually legal), whether a few coppers realised(or chose to ignore) it when inspecting your vehicle is neither here nor there. The most recent one spotted it was illegal and chose to enforce the law.

I do have sympathy for you being caught for what is a minor infringement. Not sure I have sympathy for you complaining though (unless your plates are in fact legal)

I agree that the motivation may well be revenue generation. Don't like this? Then don't let them get your £30/40/60 and play by the rules. Don't like the rules and want to make the point? Write to your mp, councillors, papers etc.

BTW - Are you gonna change your plates tomorrow know you 'know' they are illegal?

I'd have let you off :D

Just took my license in for doing 60 in a 50 :mad: but then again how many times have we got away with things :)

I'm thinking the following will soon be appearing in the local newspaper:

Police hail biker clampdown as success.

Local police are hailing last weeks clamp down on motorcyclists using dangerous and defective motorbikes as a "Huge success." Insp. Bob Halfwit, pictured left with a big smile and a special bonus in his pension scheme, detailed why his crack team of traffic officers needed to lead such a clampdown. "We need to be proactive about road safety." he said "Our research has shown that up to a third of all motorcycle accidents are caused by dangerous or defective bikes." Insp. Halfwit indicated that over the last week his officers had been working closely with the local biking community to isolate the dangerous and defective bikes in the area and ensure that their owners were made aware of the fault and that, where necessary, a suitable penalty was issued. Insp. Halfwit indicated that police did not wish to unfairly discriminate against local bikers "In fact we have the support of a local biker, a scantimonious old bloke who hasn't been on a bike in years but lives nearby. Such strong community feeling has driven us to have to take action. Standing in the road stopping traffic is dangerous for my officers but they have shown excellent dedication to duty and have reached the target of 1000 tickets issued to bikers in just one week."
The local Safety Partnership also indicated its support for the police action and congratulated Insp. Halfwit on his hard work and recent promotion within the local Masonic Lodge (Pictures on page 4) the Partnership also said that the courts would be dealing with any bikers who contested their tickets in a summary and strict manner. The statement said "It is important for road safety that we get the cash off these bikers as they are a danger on the roads and taking their cash doesn't help that but it makes us happy and will reduce pressure on us at the next Greenpeace meeting."
Insp. Halfwit, who is Chair of the local Safety Partneship, thanked the Partnership for their support and indicated that local Magistrates, who sit on the Safety Partnership and have just returned from a 3 week safety fact finding tour of Florida, would ensure that his conviction rate looked good in time for the pension review next year.
Insp. Halfwit had the following warning for local bikers: "My pension gets reviewed about this time every year so be prepared for more of the same next year. The results this year have been excellent and build on the success of the safety schemes we introduced last year whereby we just fined anyone we saw on the roads. Deaths on local roads keep increasing and this gives me an excellent excuse for more clampdowns with direct government support for the more extreme and oppressive forms of control."

ROFLMAO :lol:

hedgehog I would say your post there wouldn't be far off the mark. Having non standard plates and ends cans means us bikers are hardened criminals who must be brought to justice, or so the police would have everyone think. More like a damn easy target for some free cash.

Well the humour in Hedgehogs post escapes me but this is a worrying tactic. Cowardly too, not to mention unsporting. If it goes on like this then it is going to persuade people simply to swap to fake plates. Before then, the best bet would be to contest this and try to cost the system as much time, effort and money as possible. Let's not become an easy target.

Screwd.

did you get arrested, after your out burst today at the station?

No because as it turns out the officer who was revenue raising on Friday is from another station, so will go that station tomorrow lunch time. However I did make sure I let them know what I thought of their tactics and their money raising schemes at the station I went to today and it didn't go down too well. Didn't have much to say back to me about it surprisingly.

Was the bike parked on private property ?

No it was parked in a bike park on the road. To be honest I will probably end up paying the 40 notes as they will just argue with me the same as the copper I spoke to today did quoting the highway code at me about standard lettering/plates etc and the fact I have never been questioned about it before does not mean it was legal. The woman officer I spoke to was polite and helpful but the aussie accented copper was a right tosser quoting all sorts at me.

I am not going to back down on their downright sneakiness though and deliberate targetting of bikes and issuing fines for the most minor of minor discrepancies (I can't think of a fine for anything more minor/harmless). It is something that should have been dealt with by ordering the plate to be changed. Its not dangerous and not illegable to read so the problem is merely its not a standard plate and nothing else. They don't like being referred to as tax collectors though thats for sure, well the aussie one today didn't :D

Oh and when I told him I don't display my tax disk for the fact they always get nicked or damaged in this weather and keep it in my wallet he said i'll probably get done for that too. Again never had an issue with it before, all coppers i've been stopped by are only interested in seeing it and understand why you don't keep it on the bike, this bloke was a right prize w4nker. Looks like they are out to cause as much grief for bikers as possible :mad:

As a biker I ahve always wondered why some blokes want to deliberately fit illegal numberplates. Just find it difficult to see a good reason. Their choice of course. They know they are very likely to get done for it eventually.

Sorry to hear about what happened to you B2Zero and all the other blokes though. This is a very poor example of policing and naturally is bound to cause a great deal of antagonism and non cooperation in the future. As you say it is obviously a money raising exercise and there is no excuse for such unreasonable behaviour. I remember some while ago when a speedcop stopped to have a look at my bike which was an interesting Vincent/Matchless Silver Hawk/Ariel Square Four bitsa. He spent some time asking me about it all and how it was built etc and then reported me for the tax being out of date even though I had just filled in the form and was about to put it in the post, as you could then quite legally. He said he had seen me ride it to the post office when I went to pick up a form. I thought at the time that was a rotten trick since I got him to open the sealed envelope so he could see all the necessary paperwork and payment. Very similar to the attitude of the cops who did you!

Les :(

Prison Officer bashing again Yoza!!...I'm starting to think you've done some time..you're so bitter and twisted.;)

Gav.

www.politics.co.uk/public-services/prison-service-sickness-rate-unacceptable-$7589358.htm


http://www.parliament.uk/parliamenta...180105_pn1.cfm


Im not making it up.