Unmarked Subaru Traffic Police?
Unmarked Subaru Traffic Police?
Author
Discussion

justinp1

Original Poster:

13,363 posts

260 months

Saturday 17th December 2005
quotequote all
Driving from Leeds to Manchester on the M62 today I saw in the opposite direction a dark (black) Subaru in the outside lane with the flashing blue lights behind the front grille up the arse of someone in the outside lane. There was an accident a few miles ahead, but this may be a co-incidence.

Are there unmarked Trafpol Subarus, or is this just a chancer who has got the blue lights fitted, to get people out of his way in the outside lane?

bluepolarbear

1,666 posts

276 months

Saturday 17th December 2005
quotequote all
justinp1 said:
Driving from Leeds to Manchester on the M62 today I saw in the opposite direction a dark (black) Subaru in the outside lane with the flashing blue lights behind the front grille up the arse of someone in the outside lane. There was an accident a few miles ahead, but this may be a co-incidence.

Are there unmarked Trafpol Subarus, or is this just a chancer who has got the blue lights fitted, to get people out of his way in the outside lane?


Lots of forces have at least one

Parrot of Doom

23,075 posts

264 months

Saturday 17th December 2005
quotequote all
Yep, theres also a red Ford Galaxy cruising around Manchester, and a Vauxhall Zafira thingy as well.

GlenMH

5,463 posts

273 months

Saturday 17th December 2005
quotequote all
Keep an eye out for a silver Skoda Octavia saloon, with a small boot spoiler, at the top of the M5 too. He had a victim on Thursday afternoon...

Glen

hanse cronje

2,423 posts

251 months

Saturday 17th December 2005
quotequote all
GlenMH said:
Keep an eye out for a silver Skoda Octavia saloon, with a small boot spoiler, at the top of the M5 too. He had a victim on Thursday afternoon...

Glen


mmm i noticed that, they have on the M6 Toll along with a white volvo

k50 del

9,757 posts

258 months

Saturday 17th December 2005
quotequote all
Wiltshire Trafpol have 2 Unmarked white STi's IIRC

Also have a couple of silver Accords and a dark omega

ledfoot

777 posts

282 months

Saturday 17th December 2005
quotequote all
The unmarked Subaru's in Hull were modified by Prodrive (The rally team people)

Tonyrec

3,984 posts

285 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
HertsPol now have a be- spoilered Evo 7. Looks superb but i wonder how reliable it is in the long run.

justinp1

Original Poster:

13,363 posts

260 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
ledfoot said:
The unmarked Subaru's in Hull were modified by Prodrive (The rally team people)


This was kind of my point when asking in this thread. These arnt the cheapest cars in the world to run. That is bad enough, but surely they must be quick enough for 99.9% of all of the calls and even pursuits they are on without being modified?

I wonder if this spending of taxpayers money really pays back for itself, or whether its a creative use of a budget being handed down...

xxplod

2,269 posts

274 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
Hants used to have an old Impreza but it wasn't popular and wasn't really suited to the role. In Hants, keep your eyes open for Octavia RS's with an extra ariel or two. Check prvious posts - I've posted the VRMs.

bmwdrivernigel

8,596 posts

254 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
Tonyrec said:
HertsPol now have a be- spoilered Evo 7. Looks superb but i wonder how reliable it is in the long run.


Dont these things have to be serviced every 5000 miles?

rsvmilly

11,288 posts

271 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
bmwdrivernigel said:
Tonyrec said:
HertsPol now have a be- spoilered Evo 7. Looks superb but i wonder how reliable it is in the long run.


Dont these things have to be serviced every 5000 miles?
Every 4,500 miles

bmwdrivernigel

8,596 posts

254 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
rsvmilly said:
bmwdrivernigel said:
Tonyrec said:
HertsPol now have a be- spoilered Evo 7. Looks superb but i wonder how reliable it is in the long run.


Dont these things have to be serviced every 5000 miles?
Every 4,500 miles

At least we know it will be off the road 2 days a week then being serviced!!!

>> Edited by bmwdrivernigel on Sunday 18th December 15:40

justinp1

Original Poster:

13,363 posts

260 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
rsvmilly said:
bmwdrivernigel said:
Tonyrec said:
HertsPol now have a be- spoilered Evo 7. Looks superb but i wonder how reliable it is in the long run.


Dont these things have to be serviced every 5000 miles?
Every 4,500 miles


Hmm, so if it is going say from Manchester to Leeds and back twice a day on patrol (2 hours?) then it would need servicing once every 4 weeks. I just cant see the logic really, unless it really is the case that someone who is actually going to be driving these has the choice of what is appropriated for the police?

gilbertd

744 posts

272 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
Prodrive did some Scoobies for Northants and Thames Valley and probably a few other forces too. So the answer to the original question is, yes, quite possibly.

julianhj

8,871 posts

292 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
mk6fiesta said:
justinp1 said:
ledfoot said:
The unmarked Subaru's in Hull were modified by Prodrive (The rally team people)


This was kind of my point when asking in this thread. These arnt the cheapest cars in the world to run. That is bad enough, but surely they must be quick enough for 99.9% of all of the calls and even pursuits they are on without being modified?

I wonder if this spending of taxpayers money really pays back for itself, or whether its a creative use of a budget being handed down...


Back in the day Hull (Humberside) used to have a couple of very nice Escort Cosworths. That was until they removed the whale-tails (against the advice of Cosworth) and promptly crashed them all!


That's odd, as towards the end of the production run buyers could spec their new Cosworths with the whaletail deleted by the factory.

size13

2,033 posts

287 months

Monday 19th December 2005
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When at Salford Uni (<1998), we used to see the Ford Rally team van at Salford Police Station (next to uni carpark). They used to handle the local Escort Cosworths as they had been rally preped to deal with rough road use, e.g. mounting curbs, and going over speed humps at speed etc..

>> Edited by size13 on Monday 19th December 12:39

T5-R

434 posts

256 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
xxplod said:
In Hants, keep your eyes open for Octavia RS's with an extra ariel or two.


Yup. Seen them stealthily stalking the M3 (mainly in silver iirc). Catches quite a few out, as no one expects to be caught by a Skoda!

sa_20v

4,114 posts

261 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
Tonyrec said:
HertsPol now have a be- spoilered Evo 7. Looks superb but i wonder how reliable it is in the long run.


Yup, saw that early one morning last year - police officers 'trying it out' at speed, no lights around a built up area - good one lads!

wedg1e

27,038 posts

295 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
There's an unmarked silver Impreza complete with big wing that trawls the A19, A1 etc around Thirsk in N. Yorks... I forget the full reg but ironically it starts PF05...