Motorway Traffic Officers in Shogun's
Discussion
Hi Everyone,
Quick question. Those motorway traffice officers? (Are they called HATO's). What level of driver training do they have to go through? Am i right in saying they are civilians and not officers or TrafPol?
Returning (in my sorrow from watching my team get relegated) from Sheffield to Leicester last night on the M1, lashing it down with rain, visibility down to 30m or so. Most of the traffic doing 50mph. i'm pootling along in lane 1, and all of a sudden one of these bloody Shogun's appears out of nowhere infront of me as he's got NO BLOODY LIGHTS ON!! I move out to overtake slowly (not breaking speed limit) and pull back in infront of him, trying to signal he has no lights on. As the next juntion approaches i get the blues and two's in my rear view mirror and leave the M1 and park up on a road off the roundabout.
Cue a 20 minute conversation about how using one hand on the wheel (whilst trying to show he had no lights on with the other) is dangerous driving and i should consider myself lucky that i was getting away with a warning!
Urine was well and truely boiling!! Good thing i had worse troubles on my mind at the time!
Quick question. Those motorway traffice officers? (Are they called HATO's). What level of driver training do they have to go through? Am i right in saying they are civilians and not officers or TrafPol?
Returning (in my sorrow from watching my team get relegated) from Sheffield to Leicester last night on the M1, lashing it down with rain, visibility down to 30m or so. Most of the traffic doing 50mph. i'm pootling along in lane 1, and all of a sudden one of these bloody Shogun's appears out of nowhere infront of me as he's got NO BLOODY LIGHTS ON!! I move out to overtake slowly (not breaking speed limit) and pull back in infront of him, trying to signal he has no lights on. As the next juntion approaches i get the blues and two's in my rear view mirror and leave the M1 and park up on a road off the roundabout.
Cue a 20 minute conversation about how using one hand on the wheel (whilst trying to show he had no lights on with the other) is dangerous driving and i should consider myself lucky that i was getting away with a warning!
Urine was well and truely boiling!! Good thing i had worse troubles on my mind at the time!
dougc said:
If you got blue lights then I would say its the BiB who you conversed with. HATO vehicles only have orange/red lights and can't pull you over (yet)
Hmm, interested, like i mentioned visibility was piss poor, and the lights were not flashing for long, but i was almost certain they were blue. It was definitely a Shogun, without a doubt, and it had "Traffic Officer" written in the rear boot window (saw this when i overtook him).
When he was telling me off (on the side of the road in piss poor rain i might add) he refused to let me answer him after i'd pointed out his lights were not on, hence me trying to inform him. Just kept interupting me and saying that it could be mis-contrued as dangerous driving and i should be careful.
Do the "real" BiB use Shogun's in Nott's area? (J26, M1). I was convinced it was not a BiB, but almost as convinced that they were Blue Lights! Weird...
munkie said:
tigger1 said:
Not seen any shoguns arounf J26 of M1...does sound like HATO.
Also, 1 hand "dangerous"? Due care, maybe, dangerous? No.
Also, 1 hand "dangerous"? Due care, maybe, dangerous? No.
I would say that very much depends on what you're doing with the other.
LOL that has some serious conetations.
Now i promise i was simply making a "blinking light" gesture with my left hand, raised up near the rear view mirror to try and attract the officers attention to his lights!
What does HATO stand for, out of interest.
eltax91 said:
munkie said:
tigger1 said:
Not seen any shoguns arounf J26 of M1...does sound like HATO.
Also, 1 hand "dangerous"? Due care, maybe, dangerous? No.
Also, 1 hand "dangerous"? Due care, maybe, dangerous? No.
I would say that very much depends on what you're doing with the other.
LOL that has some serious conetations.
Now i promise i was simply making a "blinking light" gesture with my left hand, raised up near the rear view mirror to try and attract the officers attention to his lights!
What does HATO stand for, out of interest.
Highways Agency Traffic Officer?
bluesandtwos said:
IIRC a few HATOs have blues now - but only rear facing for closing lanes etc.
If you were pulled by a HATO I would be very shocked, I am guessing it was a trafpol with HATO pax..?
If you were pulled by a HATO I would be very shocked, I am guessing it was a trafpol with HATO pax..?
HATO's with blues & two's, no way! Tell anyone off about their driving, not their job! if they did, you should have got their number.
I don't think you've been stopped by a HATO, it could have been one of the new breed of community road police officers or PCSO's for roads, they are all now springing up all over.
gafferjim said:
HATO's with blues & two's, no way! Tell anyone off about their driving, not their job! if they did, you should have got their number.
I don't think you've been stopped by a HATO, it could have been one of the new breed of community road police officers or PCSO's for roads, they are all now springing up all over.
I don't think you've been stopped by a HATO, it could have been one of the new breed of community road police officers or PCSO's for roads, they are all now springing up all over.
Good call Jim.
Police do use Shoguns
www.ukemergency.co.uk/police/police16.htm
gafferjim said:
bluesandtwos said:
IIRC a few HATOs have blues now - but only rear facing for closing lanes etc.
If you were pulled by a HATO I would be very shocked, I am guessing it was a trafpol with HATO pax..?
If you were pulled by a HATO I would be very shocked, I am guessing it was a trafpol with HATO pax..?
HATO's with blues & two's, no way! Tell anyone off about their driving, not their job! if they did, you should have got their number.
I don't think you've been stopped by a HATO, it could have been one of the new breed of community road police officers or PCSO's for roads, they are all now springing up all over.
Sound's like a good call their. Defo was not plod as not the right uniform and no warrant card shown or anything. Plus, the way he tore a strip off me if it was plod i'd have expected some kind of trumped up ticket!!
Thanks for the info everyone, i am most certainly enlightened!
GreenV8S said:
eltax91 said:
Cue a 20 minute conversation about how using one hand on the wheel (whilst trying to show he had no lights on with the other) is dangerous driving
I thought that hand signals were part of the highway code?
That's a fair point. I think he may have thought that my hand signals were not in the highway code and that i may have been saying that he occasionaly bashes a member of the clergy. However, his rant only really got going at the point he cut me off half way through me trying to explain that i was indicating that HE was demonstrating more danger by having no lights on. genuine mistake on his part, but to then pull me over (when evidentally he has no right to do so) and give me a roasting for nothing just because he's slightly embarrassed that i spotted he was doing something very silly was what got my urine boiling.
tps said:
What colour was their jacket.
Yellow =Police
Yellow bottom orange top =HATO
Yellow =Police
Yellow bottom orange top =HATO
Everyone and his lad has this colour of jacket now. It would say Highways Agency traffic Officer on a large "Billboard" on the back, it would also have eppalets on the shoulders with his number on, if you have any complaint/ praise get that number and phone it in.
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