T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

I was just pulling into my Drive 11:45pm after bringing my daughter(15) home from a Christmas Disco. An umarked Police Car pulled in behind me and asked me sit in the back of their car and wait for Local Plod, I had a rough Idea what it for

They were really nice, asked about the Scoob etc said the were from Birmingham but pulled off their normal covert duties, to help cover local Bobbies cracking down on "Loutish behaviour" and Drink drivers over the Christmas period.

The reason for being pulled was:-

Na, 11:30pm I was travelling down a 30mph road houses on one side and Train track on other as it's fairly straight full of speed bumps, Being mindfull of Christmas Drunks Etc and with my Daughter in Car.

On the only corner is a junction and speedbump before and after. A car I was following turned into that junction. I am only travelling in 1st & 2nd gear, 1st over the bumps. I have never exceeded 30mph. 800 yds and 3 speed bumps later I see 'Mum, Dad and Youth' All in black, Hats and all. All of a sudden as I near them the 'Man' jumps in front of me doing a 'Starjump' WTF. Anyway due to recent Thefts and Attacks on Scoobys owners, I swerve to avoid him as I'm only doing 26mph and no traffic on the otherside of road. My Daughter reckoned it was a Policeman, I was unsure it could have easily been "Fancy Dress drunks". I tried to Phone Police but I only had an old Local number it's been changed to a regional 0845

Anyway Local Plod turn up so the nice Brummy Cops let me out of the Car to meet them.

Walking from their Car in both Full Dayglow jackets The very Irate Copper starts off with "How long have you been driving?" I reply 30+ years he says "If you can't handle the car you should down grade it" being very carefull what I say as worried about possible failing to stop. He starts on about me speeding, which I deny Piont blank. The 'Female' copper says "You came around the corner with rediculous speed" bearing in mind this has speed bump either side and is over 1000 yds away from were they are. I replied "A car turned off there and I was only ever in 1st and 2nd gear and DIDN'T exceed 30 mph, my car has a loud exhaust note and stiff suspension which hates speed bumps". The Man cop say "You slowed up as soon as you saw us, I wish I had a Radar gun, I'd of had you then, but without it I cant prove you it" I said " I just wish you had, it would have proved me right"

I was started to get a bit annoyed at this piont. So I asked why "If they spotted an offence 1000yds away why did He 'Jump' infront of my car when it was only 3 yds away" He Totally denied he did I said I have my 15yr Daughter in the House who witnessed it. I said "Even more importantly why were you not wearing your Dayglows, by 'Jumping' into the Road you endangered my and my Daughters lives"

The last two comments seemed to unsettle both of them, but his Parting comment was "We will get you next time" As it was now nearly 1:00pm and outside my house I was just glad they went but had considered ringing the Police from home to Officially complain about him jumping into the Road.

Tony

Abdabz

Obviously not happy at working over xmas - dopey local plod...
Definatley worth a complaint though... 12 years back I did the same for harrasment and following a visit from a chief inspector / constable (cant remember which) I wasnt stopped again...
Hope you got their badge numbers

rizzy

i hate the police full stop. always pulling us scoob and evo drivers.

Davey P

iTrader: (1)

Its police men and women like that, who give them all a bad name

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Tony,
That is outragous behavior, I would certainly put a complaint in writing over this, and to say to you (we will get you next time) sounds like a threat to me, I thought it was compulsare for them to wear their glow jackets at night.
Cheers
Colin

Bubba po

I've NEVER been pulled in the scoob after 22 months of driving it! I've never been followed by the plod, either. I must be too old.

scooby-si

should have got there name rank and number to report them

scooby-si

sounds like me po

drjsd

Sounds like tigger' story from a couple of months back.

Can just imagine the new Whitehall campaign - stop and harass Scoobies, but leave those little Chav-mobiles with their little blue washer lights and REALLY low seats. Common sense seems to be a rare commodity these days...

Bubba po

Too many 'o's, scooby-si... Unless you truly believe that I sound like your poo..

adeel.a

There were days when I used to respect the police and feel really safe around them until I was accused of speeding, went to court after 6 months after the incident and then from a clean license and driving 6 years a complete endorsement and 28 days ban witha £500 fine.

Without evidence... no I'm not sour but its incidents like this that really don't just take the biscuit, they take the whole packet of biscuits and don't even leave the crumbs kind of thing.

When I was accused of speeding, there were 2 officers male and female... the female one didn't even turn up in court just in case that she would verify that I may not have been 'going over the limit'. Yet they bought a witness (another pc) that had apparently 'calibrated' the police car that was following me a day before and after the incident.

After about 3.5 hours they gave their verdict... Whata load of rubbish it was... 5 weeks after at a set of traffic lights 2 police cars pulled me over to say that I had been banned and shouldn't have been driving... until they radio'd in and discovered I was clean...

That just topped it all off... since then, I haven't just lost all respect I actaully dislike them. They are all self opionated and think because they are the police they create the 'law'. They are very wrong...

It's quite sad actaully because this is 70% of the reason I am selling my WRX and getting something less extravegant.

Sorry to go on and I don't mean to personal if there are any 'Mets' on the forum.

scooby-si

lol sorted m8

Elmer Fudpucker

Both my Granddad's were coppers,as was My Uncle and my late Father,who retired as a Chief Inspector after 30 years on the force.....

IMHO they are all complete to55ers these days

They all get completley brainwashed during their training,all sense of reasoning and common nouse gets utterly removed!!

They seem to forget that they merely represent the law and are not in actual fact, THE law.

Jon

tiggers

Tony,

Read this:

Alleged attempted assault on a police officer

Seems like they are making a habit of stupid behaviour

By the way this one is still going on - can't get any info out of them whatsoever.

Regards,

tiggers.

Silver Scooby Sport

iTrader: (15)

I hope you asked both of them for their badge numbers Tony ?

It does make you feel as if you should report it so this is logged because it does give you a paroniod feeling, if they do happen to appear and be funny in the future at least then you have some ammo !

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I lost respect for plod when they literally "therw the book at me" for doing nothing except a 3 point turn - I actually stopped at the side of the road when I saw an approaching car to wait for it to pass - turns out to be a poilce car, who just stops dead in the road, no blue lights and no signalling.

I got accused of: fly tipping, being drunk, being too young to drive, stolen car (they were adement it was stolen until the PNC said it was OK), being too young to drive "that sort of vehicle" (a Rover 216 FFS LOL ), Joyriding, Not insured for that vehicle and a drug search to cap it all off.


Truth was they had followed me out of a pub car park (which they shouldn't do)- just they held back so I didn't see them until I stopped to turn around after realising my mate left his coat. When I passed the breathalyser (strange how coke smells of alcohol on your breath ) they continued to find something else wrong.

I don't mind having the book thrown at me - as long as they can explain why. This was just point blank accustation "youve stolen that car". "You appear to be drunk sir". "there is no way you can be insured to drive this type of vehicle" "take it from daddy did we?" That was just a few quotes.

Didn't accuse me of speeding though - which was about the only thing!

Jonty

Tony,

An interesting read and probably an incident which has left you fuming. There's two ways to handle this; be content that you did nothing wrong and rise above the officers who quite clearly weren't acting correctly at the time. Not an excuse I know but they/he/she probably had a very bad day and you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some officers have chips on their shoulders and don't like to be outdone -- "A Subaru obeying the speed limits... surely not... can't have that..."

Your alternative is to visit your local Police station and make a formal complaint. Don't worry about not having badge numbers -- the incident, car registration, and your address will have been called in so there'll be a record on file and all the officers in question will be tagged to it. To make a formal complaint though will be just that, i.e. it's not possible for the offending officers to receive a slapped wrist and a few harsh words if they're found to be in the wrong. It will all be made official and the incident will go on their file.

As things stand, they won't get you next time simply because they won't be targetting you. Sure, they may get you but simply because law breakers have to be lucky all the time -- the Police only have to be lucky once. If you make a formal complaint then it's possible they then may target you, for obvious reasons.

I'd say be proud of your actions that night and the way you could be professional when others were clearly not. You've already got your moral victory so it's 1 - 0 to you.

Regards,

Jonty.

st3ph3n

I think I experienced my first bit of Police vs. Scooby action on Thursday on my way to work.

On the motorway, went by their police 4wd, I was doing 70 according to the readout on the road angel. Fair enough. They pulled into the outside lane directly behind me to follow me by some trucks. I pulled to the inside after passing, still doing 70, they then sat on the outside, just covering my car, matching my speed for 2 miles until the motorway came to and end and we had to merge to the A road. They were of course on my outside so I had to let them go first. Then I tailed them for a couple of miles before we got to some roadworks where we had to slow to 30. Or in their case - 40, 10 above the limit. Finally came to a roundabout where they managed to get a couple of cars ahead of me, which scuppered my chance of just pinning it out of the roadworks and getting to 70 long before they could.

So after the roadworks I do hit 70 and slowly catch them. Then as I go to pass them they suddenly start matching my speed. Which crept up to 72 or 73 on the GPS readout. Next thing I know they're flashing a message at me saying MAX 70, SLOW. This carried on for another 2 miles before they eventually pulled off. Not before having a sly glance at me as I went by them.

Is this normal?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I've had that before in the scoob a couple of times matching every move, sitting very close to my bumper.

the one time there was nothing behind me whilst doing 75mph shortly after I merged onto the motorway from another motorway. May have acelarated a bit too much up to 70 which grabbed their attention. So along comes plod thundering up to my rear end as fast and close as possible.

They then proceed to stay there for another 10miles matching every single move and lane change. I got rather tired of their close tailgating, assumed they had already checked their PNC etc and was just waiting for an excuse to pull me.

So getting rather fed up, moved back to the Lane 1 when clear, and followed a truck at a safe distance at 55mph for the rest of the way. They slowed and followed for another 5miles...until a BMW flew past and off they went!

WRXPete

Another police hating forum....can i kindly suggest you don't bother calling them when you get burgled, you wouldn't want to give them a chance to upset you.....
As for the chap that started this thread, defo make a complaint mate....there are the odd few out there who give the police a bad name from the inside....i guarantee their force policy says to use there flourescents at any time of day when stopping traffic.

WRXPete

P.S. you can make a formal complaint but agree to a local resolution, which might be a simply face to face apology etc

kilo_4que

Damn guys, I had that happen to me a month or so ago.

Turn off first exit on a mini round about, went ahead and took second exit off next round about until i got pulled over by a coppa in his estate mondeo.

Firstly, the female officer who told me to get out was sooooo arrogant with her "GET OUT NOW" remark.

Sat in back and the dude started killing me off straight away. Asked me how long ive been drivin for and then replies "well u dont seem fit enough to drive". Up until this point i still dont have a clue what hes on about. He asks where im going, so i tell him im going to the local mosque to which the cheeky bastewerd ses "O ive heard that hundred times before and u cant get away with it all the time".

At this point im really pissssed off as i dont know what hes pulled me for. He asks what car im driving lol. So im like "officer, its a subaru impreza" n like a cocky ****** he asks "what type?". I swear now it went beyond hilarious so im like "Black Sti version 5 wagon with black seats and red trim ...." n he goes to me "Does this seem funny to u?"

I just had enough. Every time id ask what ive done wrong, hed reply with silly remarks like ure not fit enough to drive, u dont deserv to be on the road etc until which he finally replies "on the first mini roundabout, there was a blue honda civic parked towards ure right, u didnt give way" To which i told him "the civic had its hazards on with no driver, what do u expect me to do". So he starts stuttering and ses, well the road following u was exceeding 45 mph and if i want i can penalise u for that. to which i ses "officer, the road is so short with so many cars it is impossible to exceed even 20mph never mind 45" at which he ses "well it didnt SOUND like 20mph LOL"

I couldnt wait till i got me producer as i wanted to know what hed say after accusing the car as being stolen, driven without insurance and so many other accusations and after all that he ses "go on, u seem like a decent bloke ILL LET YOU OFF this time"

im sure there must be some limits these officers cannot exceed. Absolute ***** take by them accusing u of being a thief and a recklous driver.

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

I have to agree - like any large grouping of the population there are going to be wan**ers in the plod, but perhaps not as many in the grouping that drives certain German cars

I have had experiences of mild intimidation from police cars - but there seem to be so few about nowadays that I have not had any for a good few years. Equally, in my younger (wilder) days, I have been extremely fortunate to have come accross some decent cops who whilst still giving me a ticket have not been 100% accurate in their reporting of the speed which I had been travelling at (to my advantage I hasten to add). One even complimented me on my driving believe it or not.

I would actually like to see more traffic cops - cameras are all very well but they don't prevent other forms of "bad" driving - tailgating, middle lane hoggers etc. I'm no angel as far as speeding goes but lets face it nowadays with a GPS speed detector and a modicum of luck you can get away with all manner of bad driving which I'm sure would be reduced with more properly trained police on the roads as a deterrent.

This is probably not going to be a popular view and I am certainly not dismissing those who have had bad experiences I'm sure that there are quite a few "bad apples" around but I do feel that we must maintain a sense of perspective.

Incidentally I saw some figures recently about drink driving checks over Xmas - a few years ago 815,000 (1998 I think) last year about 130,000. Don't take them as gospel I can't remeber the exact figures, how has this improved road safety???

Jonty

Not 'normal' but it can happen. We all 'play' at work now and then and why should the Police be any different. Also need to remember that Traffic officers are on the look out for anyone who has no regard for the highway code or highway law. Unfortunately those with performance vehicles are more attractive and can be baited.

If you're being tracked by a Police vehicle on a motorway, drop your cruising speed to 60 mph -- Police get bored at this speed. Remember, 70 mph is the legal maximum but only if it's safe to do so. Cruise at 70 mph and you're still a potential 'chat' candidate if it's dark, wet, foggy, busy, etc. Drop to 60 mph and let everyone else do 70 mph. Guaranteed that someone else will attract their attention and at 60 mph you can't possibly be a risk to anyone.

Food for thought.

Regards,

Jonty.

Gary C

Funny. I have allways had good experiences with the police. When I came into my favorite traffic island in the wet, got the back out in my 200sx, then noticed the traffic cop (oops), got told to slow down, but no hassle, very friendly.

Pulled by two others for going a bit fast, still friendly.

Coming back from a rally, spots and numbers still on the car. Got into a fun race down the back lanes, pulled away from the following car, peaking at about 90mph. On to main road, blue lights come on !, friendly again, no action taken.

Their are some good ones out there, and they do do a difficult job. I have always been friendly and apologetic in my dealings with them and it has always seemed to help.

Can't help though with the lemming type behaviour described in the first post though

WRXPete

I can only agree with this, it's commone sense....not that i advocate it in any way, but if you were doing 90 in the slow lane and some guy comes past you at 110 in the fast lane, which person is going to attract the most attention!!!
A previous post mentioned more traffic boys for all the other little things that are nontheless very dangerous, more so that speed....new legislation is what is needed...the planned uping to £60/3 points for phones etc.
Did you know that in New Zealand they publish appropriate safe following distance for Xmph, same as stopping distance....inside of it and i believe the penalty is NZ$100

hawkthescoobslayer

it's pretty ruf owning the car i have pulled over 4 times in last 2 days

oh happy days, last one I got so annoyed I asked him outright" did you pull me just to look at the car?" "yes" he said at least there are some honest cops out there too


Hawk

R1916v

Never been pulled or had any problems with police, but whenever I have rung needing someone round the answer is ALWAYS "everyone in your area is busy now, we'll try to get someone over".

They never do

womandriver

QUOTE:Another police hating forum....can i kindly suggest you don't bother calling them when you get burgled, you wouldn't want to give them a chance to upset you


Now would this be before the insurance pays up on your claim ?
Or you end up in court for being the villain after you beat the sh!te out the ******* lol ?

CRAIGFIN

Womandriver,

I totally agree, from what you read in the paper you can't actually guarantee that the Police will turn up if you do get burgled. I think most people just get a crime number don't they!!!