Police vehicle stops after midnight?
Discussion
I ve been pulled a few times, generally because the car doesn't fit the area I happen to be driving through,
Pulled into petrol station in new cross a few years back, and I d just taken delivery of my GTR, it was a few days old at best and I got followed in by a police van. I got out and was making my way over to the bin to toss some rubbish when I got shouted at -
oi don't walk away from me I m talking to you - excuse me- who do you think you're 'oi- ing' was my reply.
Next minute I m surrounded by 5-6 TSG (the nice chaps who come through your front door at 5am),
That your car ?! The standard Dodgy reply from me was yeah I just bought it 😂!
To be fair I d just finished training so was dripping with sweat and since I m covered in tattoos I must be a car thief .....obviously .
All well in the end and had a chat and sent on my way.
Flip side of the coin - got radar gunned at 54 in a 30 in my R8, and turned out the copper was ex forces, we chatted about the army vs navy rugby the preceding weekend, he told me to keep my speed down and sent me on my way! I realised how lucky I was that day!
Pulled into petrol station in new cross a few years back, and I d just taken delivery of my GTR, it was a few days old at best and I got followed in by a police van. I got out and was making my way over to the bin to toss some rubbish when I got shouted at -
oi don't walk away from me I m talking to you - excuse me- who do you think you're 'oi- ing' was my reply.
Next minute I m surrounded by 5-6 TSG (the nice chaps who come through your front door at 5am),
That your car ?! The standard Dodgy reply from me was yeah I just bought it 😂!
To be fair I d just finished training so was dripping with sweat and since I m covered in tattoos I must be a car thief .....obviously .
All well in the end and had a chat and sent on my way.
Flip side of the coin - got radar gunned at 54 in a 30 in my R8, and turned out the copper was ex forces, we chatted about the army vs navy rugby the preceding weekend, he told me to keep my speed down and sent me on my way! I realised how lucky I was that day!
Commander2874 said:
When i was on a response team on nights and saw a car with young looking lads, we would do a check and pull them over. If no smell of alcohol or cannabis they would be on their way within a minute.
If they failed the attitude test i would delay them by a few more minutes!
If they failed the attitude test i would delay them by a few more minutes!
Used to get stopped regularly heading home from clubs at 2-3 in the morning with a car full of mates. It was usually a quick conversation and then on my way apart from once when I had a brake light out - fair enough
I look on no longer getting stopped as pretty much the same as no longer getting ID'd when buying alcohol. I'm getting old
A few months ago I got stopped twice in the space of 5 minutes on two different roads at 1am in the morning.
The first stop was by a sergeant who had been hidden away in hotel entrance waiting for any passing cars.
He was trying to be "stealthy" when he started to follow Me, but the fact that his xenon headlights appeared from nowhere, the speed at which he was coming up behind Me, and the fact that once behind Me he slowed down to match My speed, instantly gave him away as a Police car.
Coming up to a bus lay-by, I was thinking "If he's going to pull Me, this is where it will be", and low and behold - On went the blue lights.
So I pulled in, wound down the window, switched the engine off and placed the keys on top of the dashboard. As he looked in, he said with a smile: "I can see this isn't your first ever stop" , to which, also with a smile, I replied: "I've had one or two over the years".
He asked if it was My car, what My name was, what My address was, where I had been, and where I was heading to, all of which I had no problem with. He told Me that it all checked out okay, and as he couldn't smell any alcohol in the car, and My driving had been fine, he wouldn't bother with a breath test.
He then said: "Sorry for the stop Sir, but you'd be surprised how many drink drivers we catch out with a random stop at this time of the morning. And no disrespect intended, but an older BMW coupe like this, out and about at this time of the night are quite often driven by youngish drivers who might have been out to the pubs and clubs"
To which I replied: "Not a problem Sir.....You have a safe shift"
So I drove off, to carry on My journey, passed through the next town, and having just exited the town, I saw the distinctive xenon headlights of a BMW coming the other way, to which I thought: "I bet that's a Police car".
As it passed, it was confirmed to be a fully decked out Battenberg 5 series traffic car, and as I looked in My rear view mirror I saw the brake lights go on and the car start to do a 3 point turn, to which I though to Myself: "I bet he's coming after Me".
I knew there was a big lay-by up ahead that he would pull Me into, and sure enough, he raced up behind Me, and as we approached the lay-by, the blue lights went on, and almost instantly I put My left hand indicator on. So I pulled in, window down, engine off, keys on top of the dashboard, and started chuckling out loud - Which caught the Officer out a bit.
He said "Good morning sir, you knew who we were then? You must have put your indicator on at the same time I put the blue lights on.....I couldn't believe how quick you were!"
"I saw your brake lights go on and then your headlights as you did a 3 point turn, and then with you behind Me I knew you were going to pull Me into here so I was waiting for it"
"Ah, I thought we'd been a bit sneakier than that....looks like we'll have to do a bit more training! Anyway, just a random stop, to check on cars on the road at this time of the morning", and then seeing as I was chuckling away, he said: "Everything okay Sir", to which I replied with a smile: "Yeah, it's just that you're My second stop in 5 minutes!".
"Oh, okay, where were you stopped before?", so I told him where, and he said: "Ah, I think that was our sergeant you were stopped by. I'll just check with him, hang on a second".
He called to the driver of the patrol car who checked on the radio and confirmed I was telling the truth, and then said: "Sorry for stopping you again Sir, had we known then we wouldn't have bothered you"
I said: "It's no bother to Me, you're just doing your job"
"Thanks for being so understanding, a lot of people get seriously annoyed at being stopped once, let alone twice in 5 minutes!"
"What's the harm?, a couple minutes added onto My journey?, that's no big deal! Besides, your random stops might catch a drink driver who could cause a fatal accident, so I've got no problem with being stopped"
"We do catch far too many drivers over the limit". He then asked where I was heading for, so I told him and he said: "We've got another couple of patrol cars further up the road also doing random stops, I'll get on the radio and tell them to let you go on your way, otherwise it'll just get a bit silly for you. The thing is.......", at which point I interrupted him and said with a smile : "It is the sort of car that gets your attention".
"Yeah it is to be honest......Our sergeant said the same did he?"
"Yeah, it's not a problem....Have a safe shift"
10 miles further up the road, I saw another patrol car coming the other way, who slowed down as I approached, and I thought: "Not a third stop?....Did the last guy not radio them after all?", but then he accelerated away again, and I thought: "Yes he did!"
So yes, they do carry out random stops without you having done anything wrong, they are well within their rights to do so, and if it gets drunks, uninsured drivers, banned drivers and dangerous cars off the road then I'm all for it.
And to all those people who get annoyed by random stops: They're just doing their job, and they might well save someone's life by doing it!
The first stop was by a sergeant who had been hidden away in hotel entrance waiting for any passing cars.
He was trying to be "stealthy" when he started to follow Me, but the fact that his xenon headlights appeared from nowhere, the speed at which he was coming up behind Me, and the fact that once behind Me he slowed down to match My speed, instantly gave him away as a Police car.
Coming up to a bus lay-by, I was thinking "If he's going to pull Me, this is where it will be", and low and behold - On went the blue lights.
So I pulled in, wound down the window, switched the engine off and placed the keys on top of the dashboard. As he looked in, he said with a smile: "I can see this isn't your first ever stop" , to which, also with a smile, I replied: "I've had one or two over the years".
He asked if it was My car, what My name was, what My address was, where I had been, and where I was heading to, all of which I had no problem with. He told Me that it all checked out okay, and as he couldn't smell any alcohol in the car, and My driving had been fine, he wouldn't bother with a breath test.
He then said: "Sorry for the stop Sir, but you'd be surprised how many drink drivers we catch out with a random stop at this time of the morning. And no disrespect intended, but an older BMW coupe like this, out and about at this time of the night are quite often driven by youngish drivers who might have been out to the pubs and clubs"
To which I replied: "Not a problem Sir.....You have a safe shift"
So I drove off, to carry on My journey, passed through the next town, and having just exited the town, I saw the distinctive xenon headlights of a BMW coming the other way, to which I thought: "I bet that's a Police car".
As it passed, it was confirmed to be a fully decked out Battenberg 5 series traffic car, and as I looked in My rear view mirror I saw the brake lights go on and the car start to do a 3 point turn, to which I though to Myself: "I bet he's coming after Me".
I knew there was a big lay-by up ahead that he would pull Me into, and sure enough, he raced up behind Me, and as we approached the lay-by, the blue lights went on, and almost instantly I put My left hand indicator on. So I pulled in, window down, engine off, keys on top of the dashboard, and started chuckling out loud - Which caught the Officer out a bit.
He said "Good morning sir, you knew who we were then? You must have put your indicator on at the same time I put the blue lights on.....I couldn't believe how quick you were!"
"I saw your brake lights go on and then your headlights as you did a 3 point turn, and then with you behind Me I knew you were going to pull Me into here so I was waiting for it"
"Ah, I thought we'd been a bit sneakier than that....looks like we'll have to do a bit more training! Anyway, just a random stop, to check on cars on the road at this time of the morning", and then seeing as I was chuckling away, he said: "Everything okay Sir", to which I replied with a smile: "Yeah, it's just that you're My second stop in 5 minutes!".
"Oh, okay, where were you stopped before?", so I told him where, and he said: "Ah, I think that was our sergeant you were stopped by. I'll just check with him, hang on a second".
He called to the driver of the patrol car who checked on the radio and confirmed I was telling the truth, and then said: "Sorry for stopping you again Sir, had we known then we wouldn't have bothered you"
I said: "It's no bother to Me, you're just doing your job"
"Thanks for being so understanding, a lot of people get seriously annoyed at being stopped once, let alone twice in 5 minutes!"
"What's the harm?, a couple minutes added onto My journey?, that's no big deal! Besides, your random stops might catch a drink driver who could cause a fatal accident, so I've got no problem with being stopped"
"We do catch far too many drivers over the limit". He then asked where I was heading for, so I told him and he said: "We've got another couple of patrol cars further up the road also doing random stops, I'll get on the radio and tell them to let you go on your way, otherwise it'll just get a bit silly for you. The thing is.......", at which point I interrupted him and said with a smile : "It is the sort of car that gets your attention".
"Yeah it is to be honest......Our sergeant said the same did he?"
"Yeah, it's not a problem....Have a safe shift"
10 miles further up the road, I saw another patrol car coming the other way, who slowed down as I approached, and I thought: "Not a third stop?....Did the last guy not radio them after all?", but then he accelerated away again, and I thought: "Yes he did!"
So yes, they do carry out random stops without you having done anything wrong, they are well within their rights to do so, and if it gets drunks, uninsured drivers, banned drivers and dangerous cars off the road then I'm all for it.
And to all those people who get annoyed by random stops: They're just doing their job, and they might well save someone's life by doing it!
Greendubber said:
SantaBarbara said:
Some of the reasons are laughable, such as you were going SLOW
Pissed up drivers drive slowly so hardly laughable. Officer: 'Your tyres look white'
Me: 'Er yes they've been salting the roads for days'
Other times, when asked if I know why I've been stopped, I've responded 'random stop?' To which the reply has often been we don't do random stops, followed by a spurious reason. It does happen and I think random stops should, I'm more bothered by the spurious reasons.
Edited by 4x4Tyke on Sunday 20th August 16:02
SantaBarbara said:
Do police make random vehicle stops after midnight, just on the off chance of catching people doing something dodgy?
Yes.I have been stopped at 3am for "trying to lose me by turning down this side street", the side street being where i lived. Breathalysed as i coughed to having had a half of bitter at lunch the previous day.
I don't mind, nothing to hide, glad they're doing breath tests but when i reported a drunk driver going up and down my road they refused to send anyone as the shift ended at 1am. Recently had another drink driver smash into a neighbour's house at midnight and it was half an hour before the coppers arrived. Police station is a 5 minute walk! Fortunately he was remorseful so we persuaded him to hang around, if he had done a runner we'd have had the quandary of whether to leave it for the police to find him or to tackle someone who potentially has invisible injuries and end up in deep doo-doo.
cootuk said:
They're following you right up the chuff in an umarked police car.
You don't speed up to make a gap, so you aren't breaking the speed limit.
They can't do you for speeding now, so they pull you in the hope of getting you on something else.
It's almost as though they try to goad some drivers into going faster?You don't speed up to make a gap, so you aren't breaking the speed limit.
They can't do you for speeding now, so they pull you in the hope of getting you on something else.
I used to get pulled over a lot when I was 18/19, there was a group of us who to be honest used to drive around like knobs in the early hours when no one else was about.
I think it is silly they have to have a reason, they should be about to pull anyone over at any time on the road for a check and people shouldn't be upset or kick off about being delayed by 2 or 3 minutes if it means more bad/dangerous/stupid drivers get taken off the roads.
If the figures show that pulling over lots of people lowers death/injury rates then the money will be there to pay for more police in cars rather than cameras which are no use to anybody at actually making a difference
I think it is silly they have to have a reason, they should be about to pull anyone over at any time on the road for a check and people shouldn't be upset or kick off about being delayed by 2 or 3 minutes if it means more bad/dangerous/stupid drivers get taken off the roads.
If the figures show that pulling over lots of people lowers death/injury rates then the money will be there to pay for more police in cars rather than cameras which are no use to anybody at actually making a difference
The Mad Monk said:
Red Devil said:
4rephill said:
Funny story
What's with this peculiar habit of using a capital letter when writing the words me, my, myself? You do it all the time. Why?Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff