Let off for speeding

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Discussion

kiethton

13,883 posts

179 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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Was pulled over for this (I still maintain I wasn't speeding)....



(Click through and it should play)

Been a good few years since I was pulled (and let off) for anything though.

2016 - pull, S59 and Mag's appearance
<2016 mainly because I looked 16 and was driving a S-type/335i late at night in dodgy areas...always a check details and on way though


Edited by kiethton on Thursday 4th March 21:15

NickCQ

5,392 posts

95 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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kiethton said:
Obviously can't comment on the speed & doesn't look like a crazy place for that move.. but I wouldn't have risked it anyway!

Gary C

12,313 posts

178 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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Not quite 'let off'

but I did overtake an unmarked police car in my 2003 STi at about 140 wink

FPN which to me was a let off.

geordiepingu

336 posts

60 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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I remember going past a camera van in Pickering last year in my Chimaera, speedo in KMH. I was absolutely adament I was over the limit, never received a NIP. Could be wrong though, yet to find Plod in North Yorkshire that don't like pushing for NIPs...

ATG

20,485 posts

271 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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Jasandjules said:
I think I have posted these before, but still.

1. 125 mph on a dual carriageway. Plod (unmarked) pulled me just after the second roundabout, where he informed me the accelerating hard between roundabouts he was fine with but taking a roundabout in excess of 80mph was not so good (MR2 has lots of grip.....).... He told me to slow down or else.....

2. 100 mph on the M25 around 2am in the Chimaera. Plod pulled alongside (unmarked), waved a finger at me so I slowed to 70 and he then launched off into the distance.
MR2s were such underrated cars. A two seater, mid-engined sports car for buttons. A bit like Porsche, Toyota were knocking out a reliable, mass produced product on conventional production lines that had some of the characteristics of cars otherwise only produced by niche supercar manufacturers. Not slowing down for roundabouts was one of their (fairly irresponsible) party tricks. They could also be made to spin like tops if you got it wrong, for the same reason they changed direction so eagerly.

About a hundred years ago a housemate and colleague had a mk2 MR2 and I had a Celica ST165. Spirited drives to work through Kentish lanes. And a house next to the village pub.

Stick Legs

4,825 posts

164 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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A3 Southbound, M25 to Guildford.
About 1am, 2003.
Lopping along at about 95mph in my 635CSi, Marked Volvo V70 appears from the slip road, I drop speed to 70 and await the inevitable.
Constable in the passenger seat holds up a laminated card marked (70) and the accelerate off.
I can only guess they had somewhere more important to be.


M5 Southbound, that lovely straight section between J9 and J10.
About 2am, 2006.

Driving back from Scotland in my XJ-S. Thought as it was clear and dry I'd open it up.
Reached the absolute upper reaches of the speedo and in the far distance saw a dark saloon car in lane 1, immediately slowed but was gaining rather rapidly, as I got closer saw it was an Omega and guessed it was unmarked but as I had obviously appeared out of nowhere decided not to take the mickey and passed at 80 figuring if they wanted to pull me they could pull me for 80 and ignore whatever I was doing before...

Got pulled, had a little chat:

Usual 'is it your car where have you been etc etc.' positive remark about the condition of the car and do I look after it myself.
Then he says "look, its quiet but the speed you were coming up I reckon you were at about 120mph but my colleague thinks it was more than that! Go easy, if anything broke or something else happened we have to clean it up."

Sent on my way.


A very good friend of mine, ex-Submariner, was on his way home from Portsmouth at the end of his training on his bike.
As he was in exuberant spirits wound said bike up to about 120mph+ with traffic, as he pulled into lane 3 glanced back to see a Police Senator in lane 3 some way back. He figured that the game was up so backed off and headed to the hard shoulder before the lights came on.
Police car follows him.
Police officer in passenger seat is normally a bike copper doing a stint in cars. Turned out he was ex-Navy and given my friend had 'given the death look at 120mph' figured he was at least riding with due care. FPN & 3 points. My friend felt that was very lucky.

Edited by Stick Legs on Thursday 4th March 21:54

ATG

20,485 posts

271 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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I was pushing it through a mix of villages and NSL just before 5am a year or two ago trying to catch a train. 40+ in the 30s and 80+ on the NSL. Deserted roads, dry, good visibility, but way over the speed limit for an extended period. I noticed the unmarked car but didn't recognise it as Police. It was unusual to see any other traffic on that journey at all, and when he started coming barreling up behind me in a 40, it was pretty obvious what was happening. Grovelling and stern ticking off and I was on my way, very grateful for the latitude he'd shown.

jakesmith

9,461 posts

170 months

Thursday 4th March 2021
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Got stopped at 116 on the M1 in 2004. Got away with 3 points and £60 fine due to the unusual strategy of treating the police with respect and being apologetic. Happy with that!

LosingGrip

7,806 posts

158 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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110/115 in a 70. Overtook an unmarked car on the dual carriageway. They said if they were traffic officers I’d be off to court. To this day I don’t know what department they were with. I’ve worked for the police for the last 11 years and it still bugs me. This was before I worked for them but during the application process.

80+ in a 50. Think it helped someone else almost had a crash in the roundabout (not because of me). Told to slow down and that was it. That was traffic that time. This was when I worked for them but kept very quiet about that!


carreauchompeur

17,830 posts

203 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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There does tend to be quite a lot of leeway- generally in Traffic we all like our decent cars and when it’s someone otherwise driving sensibly who decides to have a quick squirt it’s not an issue.

I’d prefer to deal with the genuinely bad drivers, often not the highest speeds but whose observation and planning is not the highest, eg 90 down the motorway in inappropriate conditions, tailgating/poor use of lanes etc.

Dog Star

16,079 posts

167 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Back in the 80s a 90s I used to get stopped lots, not so much now as I am very careful, but I'd say let off certainly in excess of 20 times, I've never had points on my licence and the only time I haven't been let off was in France in 2005 - I got banned in France for that.

Locally when younger I got let off a lot as my dad was the local vet and the police would call him for any emergencies - they'd always say "oh it's XXX XXXX's son" when they saw me.

My notable ones were...

- 1993 going down to Dover, I was an IT contractor and working for P&O. I was on my motorbike and all was going well til I hit the M25. Unreal. So I was undertaking and all sorts. Then I noticed that a white Senator was strangely keeping pace with me and next thing it all lights up. I pull over and take my helmet off thinking "I'm in very serious trouble here". Copper was jumping up and down shouting "I've followed you for the last four junctions.... weaving in and out.... speeds between 85 and 115 mph...." then he started changing his tune "....do you realise that any of those drivers could change lanes absolutely unaware..... knock you off..... the next ten cars will then drive over you because they're all stupid and they're all asleep". I realised this guy actually cared about me getting hurt. Anyway he let me off, didn't even mention my microscopic reg plate. I've remembered his advice (almost verbatim) to this day.

- 2003 A627(M) blue Volvo (yes I know - what an idiot) right up my chuff. I was on my R1 and just hoofed off out of there. Then I'd get stuck behind a car, he'd be back again two feet off my mudguard, car would get out of the way. Rinse and repeat. I was just about to go down the hill into Rochdale and came up behind a Fiesta, I was getting bored of this guy now and was literally just about to pass it up the inside when on came the blue lights. I confessed there and then to just "messing about" to him asking "what the hell were you doing?". He had me at 128mph and let me off. Actually a nice chap, had a chat with him then off he zoomed. I'll hold my hand up to the speeding but I do feel that he was just egging me on a bit. The irony was that I was on my way back from collecting a parcel - in my rucksack was my new Morpheus Geodesy (remember them?) speed camera detector.

- 1999? Bolton. Loads of Sunday traffic. Over took a plain clothes car, got pulled. Really nice chap, let me off as he could see I'd only speeded to overtake then was back on the limit. Admired my very shiny nice Fireblade. Gave me a producer. Got home - MOT had expired about two months before. I'd only had the bike a few months and thought it had been supplied with 12 months! Got it MOTd first thing next morning and produced documents - they noted I couldn't produce a cert for the day before but had one for the next day. A few days later the chap that nicked me called me up to query this - I told him what had happened and he just said not to worry about it "your bike looked to be immaculate". That was that.

I've had a few others - it appears that every time I "dick about" I get seen and pulled.

My experiences of the nature and professionalism of the UK traffic police have been nothing other than brilliant - they can show reason, decision making and are in total contrast to the French coppers I met (see above) who were just plain unpleasant. (A telling thing: a UK trafpol or motorway car is all set up to deal with accidents, injuries etc. French motorway patrol car had two coppers, a speed gun, a broken jack and a bottle of water.

p4cks

6,885 posts

198 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Every NIP (3) I've received since 2003

Spleen

5,453 posts

120 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Some years ago now but crested a hill on the A30 near Bodmin at around 125 in my Boxster only to spot a fully liveried Volvo parked up. Slammed on the brakes and cruised past dead on 70 but he pulled out anyway and I knew the game was up. Sure enough, lights come on so pull over. I'm bang to rights here for a ban so little point trying to be clever.

We get out of our cars at the same time and he asked me if I knew why I'd pulled over and I said of course, I was speeding. For the briefest of seconds he looked slightly taken aback but invited me to sit in the back of his car for a chat. He then asked me if I'd like to see the speed he caught me at which showed 105. Still buggered thinks I. He got out to have a look at the car and I got chatting to the driver who was ex-Royal (I was serving at the time), pleasant enough chap, where we'd been, ops, that sort of thing.

His oppo came back and asked my why I'd been speeding and I told him straight, I was showing off to my brother who'd never been in a Porsche before. Short uncomfortable silence. I then got a mild telling off that was along the lines of you may know what you're doing but nobody else is expecting a Porsche to appear out of nowhere at silly speeds so slow down. He then wrote me up for driving in excess of 70, 3 points and £60. Driver turns round and says that's a result mate. Too right says I. I get let out and shake the chap's hand and thank him for being lenient. Slightly nonplussed he said that was the first time anyone had shaken his hand for giving them a ticket.

I drove home very sensibly after that. Never forgotten that piece of advice.

Petrus1983

8,521 posts

161 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Green1man said:
My Dad used to work nights in centre of Manchester so was frequently driving home at 3-4am. I bet he was stopped 4 or 5 times a year. Sometimes it was just random checks but frequently it was 40 in a 30 or driving through red lights. In 30 years he must have had around a hundred stops and he never got one ticket - I guess he passed the attitude test.
I think your dad forgot to tell you he was Don Corleone laugh

Dog Star

16,079 posts

167 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Petrus1983 said:
Green1man said:
My Dad used to work nights in centre of Manchester so was frequently driving home at 3-4am. I bet he was stopped 4 or 5 times a year. Sometimes it was just random checks but frequently it was 40 in a 30 or driving through red lights. In 30 years he must have had around a hundred stops and he never got one ticket - I guess he passed the attitude test.
I think your dad forgot to tell you he was Don Corleone laugh
I credit my "history" to attitude - I'm very polite but not a brown noser, smile. I'm sure most of the time the police have to deal with total scrotes giving them a hard time, false name, dodgy vehicle - you name it. Just meeting polite normal people must be a bonus? I'm not sure of that - maybe a policeman/woman on here could comment.

Castrol for a knave

4,640 posts

90 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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A few times.

First was when I was 18 (about 1987) and as I pulled up in my dad's Cavalier outside our house, an Escort panda pulled up behind me. Put me in the back of the car and told me I had been doing at least 60 up St Enoch's Road (it's a strange, long elevated road built for the trolley buses back when - no houses and a bit of a drag track).

I was asked the usual questions, breathalysed (clean) and then given a very friendly but stern lecture about my speed exceeding my skill level and that a real driver understands roadcraft, not booting it like a dhead. He was of course, entirely correct.

I was also told that he knew I was a daft young lad, doing what daft young lads do, but if I took onboard what he said, he'd be happy to just give me a bking, as it was clear I was mortified and very apologetic.

I couldn't thank him enough and we got chatting about cars and stuff. Just as he booted me out of the back he asked what I did for a living. I told him I was starting at Aykley Heads Police Training centre in 3 weeks time, as a plod for another force.

An hour later, the phone rang and it was my mate, who was in traffic and had sponsored my application. I got a full hairdryer treatment down the phone.

The next day I presented myself at the front desk, armed with several tins of Quality Street and biscuits..... .,

Petrus1983

8,521 posts

161 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Dog Star said:
I credit my "history" to attitude - I'm very polite but not a brown noser, smile. I'm sure most of the time the police have to deal with total scrotes giving them a hard time, false name, dodgy vehicle - you name it. Just meeting polite normal people must be a bonus? I'm not sure of that - maybe a policeman/woman on here could comment.
I totally agree! Sometimes I watch the police shows and think “just what we’re you expecting then?”. Having said that I find it hard to watch police shows - how they’ve been allowed to get to the point of being treated like that is disgusting and very wrong. Anyway - that’s for another topic I guess.

Marziclap

Original Poster:

12 posts

37 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Dog Star said:
Petrus1983 said:
Green1man said:
My Dad used to work nights in centre of Manchester so was frequently driving home at 3-4am. I bet he was stopped 4 or 5 times a year. Sometimes it was just random checks but frequently it was 40 in a 30 or driving through red lights. In 30 years he must have had around a hundred stops and he never got one ticket - I guess he passed the attitude test.
I think your dad forgot to tell you he was Don Corleone laugh
I credit my "history" to attitude - I'm very polite but not a brown noser, smile. I'm sure most of the time the police have to deal with total scrotes giving them a hard time, false name, dodgy vehicle - you name it. Just meeting polite normal people must be a bonus? I'm not sure of that - maybe a policeman/woman on here could comment.
Baffles me. Getting pulled for something you’ve done wrong, knowing full well you’re in the wrong and deciding the best course of action is to be an arse.

I’ll be the first to admit it’s a horrible feeling having to stand there and have your arse handed to you on the side of the road, but at least I, and I’m sure most people, are mature enough to know it’s deserved!

kiethton

13,883 posts

179 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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NickCQ said:
kiethton said:
Obviously can't comment on the speed & doesn't look like a crazy place for that move.. but I wouldn't have risked it anyway!
Indeed, that's a great road and goes ~4 miles with few turn off's - wanted to get going and past them, not be sat at ~42mph....

Gary C

12,313 posts

178 months

Friday 5th March 2021
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Castrol for a knave said:
my speed exceeding my skill level and that a real driver understands roadcraft, not booting it like a dhead
smile

I remember being chased by a Police car in Shropshire once, managed to out run him before being pulled when after 40 minutes of hard driving he finally put the blue lights on when I slowed down once back on the main road smile

I think the fact I still had the numbers on the car from the last rally prompted him to have some fun.

As I was standing in the layby waiting for what I though was the inevitable, a Dolomite Sprint whizzed past and he, without a word of a lie, gave me a grin and said 'I'll go and race him now'

Those were the days.