Police car operation on M1
Discussion
On Wednesday afternoon I was driving up the M1 near Chesterfield. I was in the overtaking lane and noticed 5 police estate cars joining ahead from a slip-road junction. 3 of them then proceeded to spread out across the entire carriageway and hold back the traffic at a fairly low speed (30 - 40 mph). I was first in the queue in the overtaking lane, so had a perfect view. All the cars appeared to be fully loaded with police officers and those in the back seats kept looking round behind them.
About a minute or two later, I heard sirens behind me and looked in my rear view mirror to see an unmarked police car (black BMW) with flashing blue lights in the grille, being closely followed by another regular police car. They were picking their way through the traffic close to the central reservation. I pulled over and they squeezed past me and then through the line of police cars ahead. At which point all but one of the marked cars appeared to set off in hot pursuit. The remaining one continued to hold all 3 lanes back.
Soon enough the marked cars had surrounded the black BMW and forced him to a halt on the hard shoulder. A moment later they all set off again and all vehicles exited at the next junction.
I can only assume it was a live training exercise on how to deal with a motorway car chase.
About a minute or two later, I heard sirens behind me and looked in my rear view mirror to see an unmarked police car (black BMW) with flashing blue lights in the grille, being closely followed by another regular police car. They were picking their way through the traffic close to the central reservation. I pulled over and they squeezed past me and then through the line of police cars ahead. At which point all but one of the marked cars appeared to set off in hot pursuit. The remaining one continued to hold all 3 lanes back.
Soon enough the marked cars had surrounded the black BMW and forced him to a halt on the hard shoulder. A moment later they all set off again and all vehicles exited at the next junction.
I can only assume it was a live training exercise on how to deal with a motorway car chase.
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