Fake police van?

[PhilboSE]

Last night driving home early evening I saw some flashing blues. Turned out it was an old battered white van, closed panels on all sides (i.e. no dark/opaque glass panels like a camera van), with a single strip of blue lights looked about 1 foot long sitting on top of the dashboard. No other lights going anywhere. Traffic duly made space to allow the van to make progress.

The pattern of flashing looked "wrong", the van looked wrong, if it was a police van then it was more unmarked than anything I've ever seen; no long aerials, no other markings, no lights behind the grill. If I see it again and catch its plate, is it worth reporting?

[andburg]

Yes its worth reporting as they were clearly using the lights to pretend to be an emergency vehicle.

You never know what else they may try to use them for

[mehball]

Can report it if you like but could be anything!

NCA, Police, Army, BTP, Fire, MI5/6, Border Agency, CNC, Driver Training, RN Bomb disposal.... The list is endless. It's not just the police who use blue lights. Police in London have quite a few beat up looking vans for work which I won't go into... See here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZc_uXxxUJs

If you have the reg number... Pop it into ask MID. If it's a legit service vehicle, details will be vague.

Edited by mehball on Tuesday 9th December 10:28

Edited by mehball on Tuesday 9th December 10:30

[Jimmyarm]

Maybe its like that Fake Taxi show ?

(insert something about truncheons)

[MoelyCrio]

That VW van in the above link didn't look genuine at all.

[anonymous-user]

why do they turn them off

[Sheepshanks]

MoelyCrio said:

That VW van in the above link didn't look genuine at all.

Oldish VW van in that standard VW pastel blue passed me on the motorway the other day with blue lights in the screen. Going at a heck of a speed too.

You can imagine that any car could have a bubble lamp on the roof, but to embed flashing strobes in the rear lamps takes a bit of work so some of the vehicles in the clip are very random.

[scarble]

Definitely worth reporting if you see it again, these walts can turn violent/creepy, pull over people who upset them, pull people over and car jack them, that kind of thing.
You've got nothing to lose, they're hardly going to hold it against you if it is one of theirs.

[askew]

Had an '09 plate Megane with blues & twos on come down the hard-shoulder as we waited on the slip road last night. Call me suspicious, but I'm not convinced that West Midlands police are using those... BMWs, Jags, yes... Megane no... :s

[covboy]

askew said:

Had an '09 plate Megane with blues & twos on come down the hard-shoulder as we waited on the slip road last night. Call me suspicious, but I'm not convinced that West Midlands police are using those... BMWs, Jags, yes... Megane no... :s

Been discussed before - Could be Fire Service or Ambo - Senior Officers can use their own vehicles I believe

[askew]

Ah, fair enough.

[mehball]

MoelyCrio said:

That VW van in the above link didn't look genuine at all.

I can assure you it's genuine.

Edited by mehball on Tuesday 9th December 14:51

[PhilboSE]

mehball said:

I can assure you it's genuine.

The one I saw was quite similar to that, bit older & more beaten up, and no flashing headlights that I could see, but it does sound like it could have been genuine.

[dacouch]

There are plenty of unmarked vans and cars in London with hidden blue lights or stick on blue lights.

I was impressed to see a fairly beaten up "builders van" with blues and twos on the other day. It even had the H.A.S sticker on the back. It looked like a genuine builders van.

I would love the Met's traffic cops to use this type of vehicle as they could catch out the really anti social drivers