Dowsie WRX

As you can probably tell from the title this is going to be a bit of a rant - but i feel as though i'm perfectly entitled to!

Friday night I was travelling home along Southend seafront around midnight. I was just coming past the Casino when blue lights appear in my rear view mirror, so i pull over and start to speak with the policeman. To be fair he was a nice bloke and spoke to me in a friendly manner, breathalised me and when that came up zero he asked a few questions about me and the car, checked all the info out on his radio and said everything was in place and I could leave.

Then......PC Jobsworth gets out with his clipboard and pen and decides to go over the car in detail. After checking with my insurance company that I had infact informed them of the modifications (wheels and exhaust system) he decided to start quizzing my girlfriend on whether she knew my full name, address, what i do for a living etc

After standing on the side of the road for over 30 mins with PC JW he then decided to issue me with a 'Fixed Penalty Notice' for a cracked windscreen. I did try to explain to him that it had happened recently and it was being fixed at the end of this month, as you can imagine, it fell on deaf ears

Sorry about the long story......but to top it all off.....I got home and looked at the ticket and perhaps PC JW should of been paying more attention to his spelling rather than my car as he had spelt Subaru incorrectly!!

Sorry officer - I don't drive a SABARU IMPREZA!

Does anybode know if i can contest the ticket because of this error??

noobyscooby

No -you can't. They'll have the registration number and your details so just pay up. Sh*tty I know, but there you go.

I saw a young chap get a ticket on his Scooby where he had just had the numberplates stolen - and a crime number just 60 minutes old - for .... not displaying a number plate despite the fact he had nipped home, got his papers together, got replacement plates and they were in the front and rear windscreens as he hadn't got a drill on him to fix them!

Ever since then I have not once given way to a Thames Valley Plod, blues and twos or not, or helped them in any which way shape or form as I once did.

Plods need to learn they are public servants who need to keep the general public on side and not alienate them as they currently do on a regular basis.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

It does seem very harsh that fella. As it was PC JW who issued the ticket, could you not go and speak to his superiors down the plod station. He may/may not have had others complain about his attitude. not looking to get him into trouble etc, but if you have your car booked in for windscreen reapir, have you any evidence to ack this up. Take it with you and explain you feel hard done by regards the ticket. If not try writing it down too.

Bit patchy I know, but suppose it depends on any evidence of getting the car fixed.

mrtheedge2u2

You should of refused to answer any questions. And insisted your girlfriend did the same. I assume they had no probable cause to stop you.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

If you're young (I'm guessing you are) and driving a performance car, it's to be expected. No point in being obstructive, or you might simply turn what might have been a friendly chat into a right going over. If you are co-operative (as seems to have been the case here) and you still get a jobsworth, at least you can be proud that it wasn't you being the a*shole!

If you feel really hard done by, you should write to the Chief constable and make a complaint. If you've been caught with a defect by a jobsworth, you're pretty much shafted though. Doesn't mean you can't complain about their attitude if it was bad, however.

Don't get high and mighty with them though, you'll be surprised what a good attitude can do for a policeman; they get a lot of s*it day in, day out after all- it's not the easiest job in the world! If you expect grief and give it the big I am, expect it back...it's a two way street.

Ns04

adzer

iTrader: (13)

i take it that your crack is in the sweep of the window wipers? my screen is also cracked but coz its not in the wipers sweep it passed mot

Dowsie WRX

I'm not sure that would of been the best tactic to be honest....

Dowsie WRX

I thought i was quite well behaved to be honest.....i couldn't help giving some sarcastic answers to some of his questions though! I kind of got the feeling he was trying to catch me out on something, he was constantly asking the same questions but in different words (if that makes sense )

It's not even as though his attitude was bad.....he was just checking for the most ridiculous things! My gf couldn't believe it when he started asking her questions about me.....

Dowsie WRX

Unfortunately the car hadn't been booked in anyway as such....my mate owns a windscreen firm and is fitting it this weekend for me once i've been paid (as i tried to explain to the policeman)

I haven't been given a ticket to say i have to get it fixed in a certain amount of days either.....is this right???

Dowsie WRX

Missed this bit earlier......no absolutely no reason stop me. I was told by both of them it was just 'routine stop'. The car is taxed, insured and mot'd

Dowsie WRX

yes it is - just! If he had of stopped me last week he wouldn't of been able to do anything as it hadn't started spreading then.

darrens_here

nice. lets just hope they arent on an emergency call out to help your family out, or more to the point mine !!!!! Stupid, life threatening attitude


I agree, witht he fact taht the police can be over zealous sometimes. Im a biker aswell, so hear all sorts. HOWEVER, I would never purposely get in the way or not move out of the way of a blues and twos shout......... thats just plain stupid !

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Sounds to me like he was trying to ascertain as to whether she was, shall we say, a compensated companion for the night. Being serious btw.

EAndy

I had my numberplates damaged and smashed so I whacked on a 3D Font plate for the front and drove to get new plates made up. As it was either this or no front plate.

On returning with my new plates to my car with the new front numberplate in hand a policeman was about to write a fine for me, I explained the situation and showed him in hand a brand new numberplate and explained I knew my show plates didn't conform but it was either that or no plate.

(No transport from my tiny village ie. buses so I need to drive the car)

Anyway he didn't care and issued a fine.

Now this is the fun part... I got stopped again before I got home and another fine even though again I showed him plates and ticket.

2 tickets for plates... oh the joy.

ColiNThESTI

or on a fast food run like the copper who killed that lady getting his fast food back warm on blues and twos wouldn't want them eating cold take away!

Dowsie WRX

lol
To be fair I was thinking this myself - I'm just glad we have been together for a few years (the only time i have been )

TimWRX01

iTrader: (1)

And they deserve every bit of it, without exception.

They are all just ill-educated, violent morons that can't get a proper job.

Dowsie WRX

Thats worse than mine, although he did tell me if i was to get stopped again tomorrow i would more than likely get the same ticket until the screen is fixed.

If i do get pulled i'm hoping the next policeman might be a bit more understanding

stupidscooby

Sorry mate but hes got a point. I moved out of the way 3 months ago of a police car on blues and twos in my company van. 6 days later I get a fine through my company saying ive got a 60 pound fine. I ask to see the picture and I'm literally 6 inches inside the bus lane and you can see the police car behind me with his lights on. I contest the fine with Hackney council and their reply is thats its curtosy(sp) not compolsery(sp) to move out of the way of emergency vehicles and the fine stands. Just to add insult to injury they put the fine upto 120 pounds just because I didnt pay within 14 days. I now move out the way only if it is safe and I am either nowhere near bus lanes or red lights.

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

you were driving around southend seafront lol classic! reminds me of the good old sunday afternoon days, they clamp down on it now though all over.


i never move for police, because ive moved before for coppers in a queue of traffic at lights, they came along made everyone move then just turned off the blues and twos and sat at the front until it went green, when just just pulled off.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

That's a bit like saying: everyone who owns an Impreza is a chav!

As with all public servants, there are good ones and bad ones.

If you start an interaction with a person with an attitude, expecting them to be a moron, how do you expect them to react?

Ns04

catons scooby

i think you should all write to watch dog, as its a service we pay for that should be changed slightly, like said there are 26 and counting STABBINGS etc and around 30 mins of 2 officers times are wasted to fine a man for a cracked windscreen, i have had my previous car broken into 3 times in the past over 4 years and one was when i chased the bloke into a house called the police and they busted the door then had a go at me because he was 'asleep' and they had no proof it was him?????
i think its just there attitude, not all of them just 70% id say..

Dowsie WRX

[QUOTE=RyanSTI;8148651]you were driving around southend seafront lol classic! reminds me of the good old sunday afternoon days, they clamp down on it now though all over.

It's where i live i wasn't driving round aimlessly like most of the 'crusiers' down there - i was just trying to get home from visiting a friend in Shoebury.

ksa74f

Thats fookin terrible and EXACTLY why people hate the police,bloody gestapo.

mrtheedge2u2

I personally think that any police officer who abuses the position should be kicked straight out of the force..... no pension, nothing.

noobyscooby

[QUOTE=darrens_here;8148443]nice. lets just hope they arent on an emergency call out to help your family out, or more to the point mine !!!!! Stupid, life threatening attitude"

Plods don't save lives: firemen and lifeboatmen do that.

I'm not screwing up my wheels climbing up on granite kerbs just because a thicko plod wants to get to the chip shop - yep, he got reprimanded!

Or becaue they are going to a shooting where a women was left for nearly an hour to bleed to death because the first plods to arrive were too frightened to go into the house despite neighbours already being in there trying to nurse the woman who bled to death.

And don't forget it was a former TVP plod that authorised the murder of a certain Brazilian.

As far as I am concened plods are plonkers - end of.

scoobmeister

They are all just ill-educated, violent morons that can't get a proper job.[/QUOTE]

What do you suggest then , do away with the Police altogether and have the country with even less law and order than we already have?

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

to be honest when i go back to where i grew up (wythenshawe), you'd think there wasnt any police anyway.

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

I thought i was quite well behaved to be honest.....i couldn't help giving some sarcastic answers to some of his questions though! I kind of got the feeling he was trying to catch me out on something, he was constantly asking the same questions but in different words (if that makes sense )

Thats probably why you earned yourself a ticket. The more mature driver would have probably walked away with a verbal warning. The memory of your ticket may remind you to alter your sarcastic answers next time you are stopped. Best of luck

JGRIFF

Noobyscooby, sorry you have a bad opinion of the old bill, but the simple fact is they do save lives, but I know personally of four occasions in the last 12 months were officers I work with have been covered in victims blood trying to save life, before either the paramedics, or the fire brigade have been on scene.

As far as turning off the blues and twos, if your cancelled by radio or computer dispatch from an emergency call, then you should return to driving in a none response way. The car is only a means to deliver the officer to a job, it isn't the job itself. I know from other comments made over the years the unexplained reversion to normal driving causes an awful lot of adverse comment from the public who are unaware of the reason.

By not moving out of the way, your not making a point, what your actually doing is slowing them from whatever it is they are going to, be it a child missing from home, or somebody threatening suicide, or a large pub fight. In anyone of these situations the seconds delay you wilfully cause could be the vital difference for somebody else.

Like all jobs there are good and bad, please don't ignore all the fantastic work that officers do, just because of the escapades of the very small minoity of idiots, the police in general resent them just as much as you do.