Odd Cop cars on M4 this morning.
Discussion
A friend of mine works in intelligence (I know, sounds like a schoolyard bragging story!) and they have loads of cars that you may think are odd, but in reality they pick 'normal' cars to blend in because most of their work is surveillance related and they want to blend in. Perhaps the Mini and Sprinter in question were providing support for a drugs bust or something!
My friend says they have everything from unmarked traffic cop status (Audi S3, Golf R etc.) to something far more mundane like a Kia Caren.
My friend says they have everything from unmarked traffic cop status (Audi S3, Golf R etc.) to something far more mundane like a Kia Caren.
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Some years ago I saw a Mini Cooper S in the square mile in London, it was either green or blue, with blues behind the grill going.
I remember at the time thinking what an odd choice it was for an unmarked car!
They have had it 4/5 years now, you just don't see it that often on the bell.I remember at the time thinking what an odd choice it was for an unmarked car!
Toyoda said:
Yep, these were my thoughts exactly. Linked to the fire service. Whether they're allowed to break speed limits is another matter, but it explains a Mini with blue lights going full chat.
There's no way a fire officer etc would drive so fast to reach the scene of an operation where the crews are already working - they aren't first responders.I'm not up on the model names but an oldish looking VW van in the standard VW pastel blue colour with siren going and a blue light in the screen passed me in the opposite direction on the M42 going hell for leather. Guys in it were in casual clothes.
It was amongst a whole stream of unmarked cars that passed over a period of a few minutes.
I suppose it could have just been local police responding to an incident - we detained an intruder at our office a few years ago and called the police. Then he became very unhappy so we called again. Plod took a while to arrive, but then there was no stopping them, and only a couple of the cars were marked. I was surprised how many of these guys there are kicking around.
It was amongst a whole stream of unmarked cars that passed over a period of a few minutes.
I suppose it could have just been local police responding to an incident - we detained an intruder at our office a few years ago and called the police. Then he became very unhappy so we called again. Plod took a while to arrive, but then there was no stopping them, and only a couple of the cars were marked. I was surprised how many of these guys there are kicking around.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Thursday 21st September 10:41
Having done some visits to a certain Hereford place, they had Merc Sprinters for a bit, but this was a few years ago. They also had Impreza's as the car of choice before Subaru decided to go all hatchback on us!
There are other military Units that a small nippy car would be suitable in built up areas.
There are other military Units that a small nippy car would be suitable in built up areas.
I was travelling south on the M40 yesterday between junctions 12 and 11 about 11am and a white Insignia came flying past in Lane 3, it had no lights or sirens, closely followed by 2 marked units with both lights and sirens on the go - they must have been doing 100mph+.
I wasn't sure if it was a police chase (follow) or just an exercise and the Insignia was unmarked.
I wasn't sure if it was a police chase (follow) or just an exercise and the Insignia was unmarked.
Bluetoo said:
not overly fast for a Sprinter Van, the more powerful version has 190bhp V6 diesel and In standard guise, they can get to 120mph, but the acceleration above 90 is glacial as simple physics of aerodynamics takes effect, not much fun to try to stop one safely from these speeds though.
Austrian black vans regularly seen on the A3 in eastern Bavaria doing 110 - 120 mph.I think some of the vans are six cylinder and so maybe have 200-250 BHP.
I don't think any of them are V8.
Keen delivery drivers I guess. If the vehicle is capable of it, someone
in Germany will be doing it.
Nissan Micras at 110 mph, seven seat people carriers at 130 mph, the usual mob at 155 mph,
Porsches and Lambos at 160-180 mph etc
petop said:
Having done some visits to a certain Hereford place, they had Merc Sprinters for a bit, but this was a few years ago. They also had Impreza's as the car of choice before Subaru decided to go all hatchback on us!
There are other military Units that a small nippy car would be suitable in built up areas.
They also had a VXR8 at one point IIRCThere are other military Units that a small nippy car would be suitable in built up areas.
Riley Blue said:
High ranking military officers used to travel in unmarked cars fitted with concealed blue lights and driven by an armed driver dressed in civvies; it wouldn't surprise me if they still do.
Many of which will be civil police specification, Volvo S80 with the T6 engine a few years agoUppy89 said:
To be fair there are a lot of assumptions these were unmarked Police vehicles. There are a lot of other people/organisations that can also use them and several of these would likely be unmarked and could use vans.
•for police purposes (but not necessarily a police vehicle, e.g. search and rescue)
•for fire brigade purposes (but not necessarily a fire brigade vehicle)
•for ambulance purposes (but not necessarily an ambulance vehicle, e.g. cave rescue)
•as an ambulance for moving sick, injured or disabled people
•by a specialist company for fire salvage work
•by the Forestry Commission for fire fighting
•by local councils for fire fighting
•for bomb disposal
•for nuclear accidents
•by the RAF mountain rescue
•by the National Blood Service
•by HM Coastguard
•for mine rescue
•by the RNLI for launching lifeboats
•for moving around human organs
•by Revenue and Customs for serious crime
•for mountain rescue purposes
•by the military special forces (e.g. The SAS) for a national security emergency
By the Royal Logistics Corps. For EOD purposes •for police purposes (but not necessarily a police vehicle, e.g. search and rescue)
•for fire brigade purposes (but not necessarily a fire brigade vehicle)
•for ambulance purposes (but not necessarily an ambulance vehicle, e.g. cave rescue)
•as an ambulance for moving sick, injured or disabled people
•by a specialist company for fire salvage work
•by the Forestry Commission for fire fighting
•by local councils for fire fighting
•for bomb disposal
•for nuclear accidents
•by the RAF mountain rescue
•by the National Blood Service
•by HM Coastguard
•for mine rescue
•by the RNLI for launching lifeboats
•for moving around human organs
•by Revenue and Customs for serious crime
•for mountain rescue purposes
•by the military special forces (e.g. The SAS) for a national security emergency
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