Is this normal practice ?

[lazyitus]

Hi,

I posted the following in General Gassing on Saturday just gone. Its still bugging me a bit. Can any BiB confirm whether this is normal practice or not?

Lazyitus said:

I met a really odd situation this morning. Just as it was getting light, I stumbled upon a new born accident. A Ford Focus quite badly smashed at the front and a Renault Clio (could'nt see the damage). There were two other 'witness' cars that had stopped so there was help at hand. The driver of the Focus was out of the car and as I approached, he was trying to open the Clio door. Stuck, I thought. Well actually, no. The guy in the Clio just wouldn't get out and then just span off and joined the road behind me as I'd just got level and passed the scene. This was odd. A quick decision was made in my own head - the guy must have been drunk because as he rejoined the road, he was weaving quite badly. We came upon a roundabout and I fumbled with my phone to get his reg number down. I was going straight on but the guy sped off to the left. I considered a chase but as all seemed OK and walking, I thought I'd excercise common sense. I'd seen the damage to the Focus and didn't fancy the Griff getting the same treatment. Thought I'd help. I phoned 999 (who else do you phone?) and spent 2 minutes explaining the situation and advised them that a dark blue Renault Clio was headed for Wheelock and that I considered it to be a hit-and-run suspect, possibly drunk? Imagine my suprise when I was told to phone the local police station myself and she started to real off the phone number. How the hell can I write this number down whilst I have no pen or paper? Am I being thick here or is it not the job of the police to carry on from this point? I'm gobsmacked !

[purpleheadedcerb]

I would make a complaint as the call despatch sounds seriously wanting.

IF you have recent information about a suspect then this should be coded as immediate response and you were correct to phone 999.

[bryan35]

hmm, odd.
I've prob rang the police on 999 3 or 4 times in the past.
driver swerving all over the road, that sort of stuff.
Police always been helpfull.
Even Blunderside police have been.

[Parrot of Doom]

I called 999 once to report a suspected drunk driver, someone who was all over the road (Snake Pass heading into Glossop).

Despite my giving the operator the precise location (A57 Snake Pass 2 miles outside Glossop), she still wanted to know where Glossop was (Manchester), what road it was, which direction, etc etc. 4 times I explained to her, 4 times she didn't understand.

I ended up just saying "Look, just tell a local policeman what I've said and they'll know where it is FFS"

[ledaig]

Unusual in my experience - followed a guy in my car (err..that's me in the car not him - he was doing a Linford Christy) the other week after he came flying out of a first floor window (woman screaming - glass breaking etc), followed down the road from a distance called 999 on mobile and the bib responded by having someone in the back of a car in minutes.

That's Cambs though.

>> Edited by ledaig on Tuesday 24th January 19:49

[bimsb6]

the mrs rang 999 from the m1 south bound northants area about an asian falling asleep at the wheel in a lorry weaving all over the inside lane ,followed to junc 12 bedfordshire where she pulls off and lorry driver is still going no pull no plod !

[lightstepper]

I tried to report an old dude in a micra driving through a village near Woking once who ran 2 red lights, weaving all over the road, doing 15MPH in 40 zones and clipping curbs etc.

I called up on my handsfree kit as I was following and the person at the end of the phone decided to spend 5 or so minutes telling me how dangerours I was using a mobile while driving... I hung up.

Hope the old guy didnt kill anyone - shame nobody will be able to stop him as he is under the speed limit = no way of detecting him

[lazyitus]

jamesson said:

To answer the question on the thread, no it is not normal practice! Not where I police anyway. You were absolutely correct to call 999. Please do so again if the situation ever re-occurs (obviously I hope it doesn't). Chase it up. Write to the Superintendent at the police station where this happened, explain the circs and I'm sure he or she will want to know why this wasn't dealt with properly. Playing Devil's Advocate now, *perhaps* the call taker misunderstood you for whatever reason and didn't think it merited an immediate response, but I'm not sure how one could misinterpret what you've said in your thread.

Alastair, thanks for your professional view.

Firstly, I really was as clear as the post above to the operator. Unless she was particularly thick, I don't think she could have misunderstood the urgency in my call.

I think I will actually send a letter to the Superintenent, as you suggest.

I wasn't overly bothered about following this up initially but the more I think about it, the more it is annoying me.

If it was me that had been hit by the guy in the Renault, I'd like to think that after the effort of a member of the public, the least I could expect is the police force to put an equal amount of effort into stopping this guy while he was still 'hot'.

[gozomark]

bimsb6 said:

the mrs rang 999 from the m1 south bound northants area about an asian falling asleep at the wheel in a lorry weaving all over the inside lane ,followed to junc 12 bedfordshire where she pulls off and lorry driver is still going no pull no plod !

what has being asian got to do with it ?

[chrisbb]

maybe the clio driver didn't get out because he thought the other driver was going to attack him! this happened to me, quite a long post on'didn't stop at accident'. He may have gone straight from the scene to a polce station.

[lazyitus]

chrisbb said:

maybe the clio driver didn't get out because he thought the other driver was going to attack him! this happened to me, quite a long post on'didn't stop at accident'. He may have gone straight from the scene to a polce station.

Hadn't thought of that.

[bimsb6]

gozomark said:

bimsb6 said: the mrs rang 999 from the m1 south bound northants area about an asian falling asleep at the wheel in a lorry weaving all over the inside lane ,followed to junc 12 bedfordshire where she pulls off and lorry driver is still going no pull no plod ! what has being asian got to do with it ?

just as relevent as the m1,south,lorry, just being accurate as to place, driver, vehicle type