Bad Police Attitude (written by a policeman)
Discussion
Taken from another forum I'm a member off. The car in question is a Skoda Octavia WRC limited edition.
Whilst driving along a straight coast road tonight at about 9:30PM, I noticed a silver Octavia vRS approaching me from behind at speed (I was doing 40mph as per the speed limit). After half a mile or so blue lights came on from behind the grille of the Octavia. As we were the only two cars around and he made no effort to pass me, I realised it was me he wanted to speak to so I pulled over.
I switched off my engine and got out to meet the officer. "Do you know your headlights are illegal", he says to me... No "hello" or "good evening sir". Anyway, I was slightly puzzled by his comment, so after stuttering a bit, I asked him to explain, to which he replied "the headlight bulbs you have fitted to this car are not suitable for road use, take a seat in my car please". I ignored his invitation and explained that my car has factory fitted Xenon headlights which are correctly aligned and un-modified. To this, he replied "The headlights in your vehicle are NOT factory fitted and have been changed by somebody at some point - and by driving the vehicle you are committing an offence". By this point I was getting rather irritated by the attitude of the officer, and his seeming lack of ability to listen to basic reasoning. I showed him my headlight switch, and then compared it to the switch in his car - I then explained that mine is lacking the load adjuster wheel because xenon headlights are automatically controlled. I offered to point out the sensors on the suspension but he refused to look!
I was struggling to stay calm and polite so forced myself to bite my tongue. It was fairly obvious that this gentleman would argue that black was white if it meant he was in the right. When I explained that I am a serving officer based in another force, I was told that he is a traffic officer with far more experience than myself. A traffic officer who is not familiar with xenon lights.. yeah, ok.
In the end I left, complete with my £30 fine. I have printed off the relevant pages from ETKA which show the various components and part numbers for the headlights. I will take great pleasure attaching them to my carefully worded letter...
It's all good fun!
Whilst driving along a straight coast road tonight at about 9:30PM, I noticed a silver Octavia vRS approaching me from behind at speed (I was doing 40mph as per the speed limit). After half a mile or so blue lights came on from behind the grille of the Octavia. As we were the only two cars around and he made no effort to pass me, I realised it was me he wanted to speak to so I pulled over.
I switched off my engine and got out to meet the officer. "Do you know your headlights are illegal", he says to me... No "hello" or "good evening sir". Anyway, I was slightly puzzled by his comment, so after stuttering a bit, I asked him to explain, to which he replied "the headlight bulbs you have fitted to this car are not suitable for road use, take a seat in my car please". I ignored his invitation and explained that my car has factory fitted Xenon headlights which are correctly aligned and un-modified. To this, he replied "The headlights in your vehicle are NOT factory fitted and have been changed by somebody at some point - and by driving the vehicle you are committing an offence". By this point I was getting rather irritated by the attitude of the officer, and his seeming lack of ability to listen to basic reasoning. I showed him my headlight switch, and then compared it to the switch in his car - I then explained that mine is lacking the load adjuster wheel because xenon headlights are automatically controlled. I offered to point out the sensors on the suspension but he refused to look!
I was struggling to stay calm and polite so forced myself to bite my tongue. It was fairly obvious that this gentleman would argue that black was white if it meant he was in the right. When I explained that I am a serving officer based in another force, I was told that he is a traffic officer with far more experience than myself. A traffic officer who is not familiar with xenon lights.. yeah, ok.
In the end I left, complete with my £30 fine. I have printed off the relevant pages from ETKA which show the various components and part numbers for the headlights. I will take great pleasure attaching them to my carefully worded letter...
It's all good fun!
edwardsje said:
Autonotiv said:
How the f
k, did he know your head lights were illegal, when he was following you?????
He was a highly experienced officer. Case closed.k, did he know your head lights were illegal, when he was following you?????Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff