Undercover Police Car

[Countdown]

The other day i was heading north on the A56 (between the M66 and M65) and was overtaken by a black LR Discovery (flashing blue lights behind the grill and also in the rear windscreen. What struck me as odd was that it was a Discovery 4 so it must be roughly 10 years old as a minimum.

is this normal? I assume the are "undercover" because they're likely to be involve din high speed pursuits. if so surely it would make sense to have something more modern and faster?

[P675]

I saw some weirder ones yesterday on M42. 2 vans, grey/silvery colour, way taller than your average van, one had a stack of ladders on the top. Both had blue lights going in the light clusters, aggressively driving in the middle of the 2 lanes to get through 50mph average enforced.

[Bradders278]

Could it have been military / special forces etc?

I remember Ultimate Force (early 2000's SAS drama) they had Disco's and van's etc ready to throw the tools in.

Scott.

[babelfish]

Bradders278 said:

Could it have been military / special forces etc?

I remember Ultimate Force (early 2000's SAS drama) they had Disco's and van's etc ready to throw the tools in.

Scott.

A friend often has "company cars" including Discovery 4's, X5's etc. that have concealed blue lights. He's in the special forces.

[TheDrownedApe]

In the EOD world we use off road vehicles with blue lights - usually Amoraks or Superbs but it could be a command car (I'm a little out of date).

[Countdown]

Interesting - could have been I suppose.

Every day's a school day

[Uppy89]

Members of both the fire and ambulance service have personal cars with blue light fits too.

[Greendubber]

P675 said:

I saw some weirder ones yesterday on M42. 2 vans, grey/silvery colour, way taller than your average van, one had a stack of ladders on the top. Both had blue lights going in the light clusters, aggressively driving in the middle of the 2 lanes to get through 50mph average enforced.

That would have been Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers.

[Pica-Pica]

Diplomat, ministerial car?

[bobtail4x4]

Walt?

[Wafu7]

It was probably Jack Bauer. Doubtless having the longest day of his life.

[Countdown]

Wafu7 said:

It was probably Jack Bauer. Doubtless having the longest day of his life.

If he’d chosen a Discovery then a big chunk of the “24 hours” would involve the AA

[RammyMP]

A couple of years ago there was a guy in the area who had a white transit van with blue lights on it. He wasn’t the police or anything just a local not right who’d put the blue lights on to get through traffic. He might have upgraded to a disco!?!

[Kaelic]

Greendubber said:

P675 said:

I saw some weirder ones yesterday on M42. 2 vans, grey/silvery colour, way taller than your average van, one had a stack of ladders on the top. Both had blue lights going in the light clusters, aggressively driving in the middle of the 2 lanes to get through 50mph average enforced.

That would have been Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers.

GMP have a couple of these vans and they look great, was at a job recently when these pulled up and a load of CTSFO's got out and started cutting about doing their thing.

[QBee]

A few years back I was towing my TVR on a trailer back home from Norwich, watching what I was doing and making sure I stuck to towing speed limits.
I joined the dual carriageway section of the A11 and overtook a slow lorry.
As I completed the pass I noticed a white basic looking Sierra of about 20+ years vintage also ovetake the lorry and pull in behind me.
He was allowing a much faster car to pass him.

After a few seconds he overtook me himself and proceeded to catch up with the faster car, turned on his blues and siren and stop the faster car, presumably for speeding.

[RedLightGreenLight]

Might have been a paramedic or doctor… or a fake cop!

[Rusty569]

As someone who regularly drives unmarked vehicles on blues it could have been anything from a fire station manager on route to an incident right upto a police armed surveillance team or even just a random member of the public who fancied fitting lights to their own car. Whatever it was even if it was a MAST car I can guarantee whatever they were doing is far less interesting than you imagine it to be.

Slow down, move over and get on with your day without giving it a second thought

[sixor8]

In April on the M5 near Gloucester, a trail of 9 vehicles, unmarked cars and 1 bike went flying past me down the outside lane at about 100 mph. They all had blue lights flashing in the grills (and at the back of the bike) and what caught my eye was that they were mostly 5 years old plus.

Audis, Merc, Range Rover, in the order 4 cars, 1 bike, 4 cars. Silver or dark colours mostly. The bike wasn't even fully faired or even resemble your normal police bike, more like a trail bike type with rear panniers. I don't think it was being escorted. They were all quite close to each other for that speed too, I thought at the time.

[Skodapondy]

At least that looked like it could have been a undercover police car. The grey with red roofed Mini Estate (I forget its true name) Cheshire plod have at the moment is a proper unmarked blend in car.

[Doesitdrive]

I think you may find some forces use whatever they get from the proceeds of crime snatchbacks.

A Golf R mk7 weaving through Surrey M25 traffic this afternoon.