Greater Manchester Police - undercover Patrol cars?
Discussion
Do Police forces generally use "older" cars for undercover work?
I've seen two cars recently with blue lights either on the dashboatd or in the rear windscreen, one was a 10-plate VW Touran in Salford, and the other one was a 62-plate Insignia on the M66 this morning. In neither case were the sirens on and neither of the cars was being driven particularly fast. However, in both cases there was a lot of traffic congestion and obviously the blue lights meant that people were moving out of the way for them.
It just seemed odd for cars so old to be "undercover" Police cars and the cynic in me wonders if people are using them to "make cheeky progress"
I've seen two cars recently with blue lights either on the dashboatd or in the rear windscreen, one was a 10-plate VW Touran in Salford, and the other one was a 62-plate Insignia on the M66 this morning. In neither case were the sirens on and neither of the cars was being driven particularly fast. However, in both cases there was a lot of traffic congestion and obviously the blue lights meant that people were moving out of the way for them.
It just seemed odd for cars so old to be "undercover" Police cars and the cynic in me wonders if people are using them to "make cheeky progress"
Cads said:
Some senior Fire Officers have the authority to have and use blues in their personal vehicles.
If the vehicles are older then I'd say this is more likely.
Your friendly local community first responders may be using their own cars with added blues, as well as blood/organ couriers (some areas use cars, some don't) and others.If the vehicles are older then I'd say this is more likely.
Edited by rainmakerraw on Wednesday 26th February 12:41
Fatball said:
I’ve seen some of the older cars that are given up by people who’ve had them seized for no insurance used during hard stops to prevent damage to police vehicles.
Bit tenuous, but a friend of a friend works with vehicle recovery and he says a lot of seized cars are humdrum s
te like Mokkas or Insignias, which work great for undercover use. They're cheap to buy, usually with patchy service records and existing bodywork damage, so they're effectively expendable. I remember seeing an undercover 62-plate Focus with it's nose buried in the rear 3/4 of a shoddy-looking Megane, would never have guessed the Ford was a plod car but given the state of it I expect it was always destined for a kamikaze run.rainmakerraw said:
Your friendly local community first responders may be using their own cars with added blues, as well as blood/organ couriers (some areas use cars, some don't) and others.
community first responders are explicitly not allowed to fit blue lights. People have been kicked off the schemes for doing so.Edited by rainmakerraw on Wednesday 26th February 12:41
It is also possible that eBay/Wish/Aliexpress purchases have been made and people fit them to make progress........
Plod and FARS do use blue's on older cars for varying reasons, so it 99% of the population wouldnt know if its genuine or not. If in doubt, make a note of the registration and call 101
Plod and FARS do use blue's on older cars for varying reasons, so it 99% of the population wouldnt know if its genuine or not. If in doubt, make a note of the registration and call 101
TooLateForAName said:
community first responders are explicitly not allowed to fit blue lights. People have been kicked off the schemes for doing so.
I honestly thought they did, and given the role think they should (with appropriate training, as per Blood service etc). I saw this on SJA:SJA said:
Working with the NHS, we respond to emergency 999 calls through our Community First Responders.
Community First Responders are volunteers who operate as part of a rota system from their own home or place of work. They are dispatched at the same time as a NHS ambulance via ambulance control to attend Category A 'immediately life-threatening' calls.
These calls can include:
• cardiac arrest
• diabetic emergency
• unresponsive patient
• breathing difficulties
• seizures
I figured if they're dispatched by the ambulance service and attending a cardiac arrest on behalf of the NHS they're not going to be bimbling along in rush hour traffic in their old Mondeo. "I'll be with you in about forty minutes Madam, the traffic's chronic on the A55" isn't what I'd want to hear when I'm waiting for someone to restart my heart! While an 'ambulance' is strictly defined in legislation, isn't there also an exemption for responding to emergencies on behalf of the NHS (which covers things like those NHS First Response cars that can't actually carry a patient)?Community First Responders are volunteers who operate as part of a rota system from their own home or place of work. They are dispatched at the same time as a NHS ambulance via ambulance control to attend Category A 'immediately life-threatening' calls.
These calls can include:
• cardiac arrest
• diabetic emergency
• unresponsive patient
• breathing difficulties
• seizures
A quick search throws up the schedule 9 Deregulation Act 2015 providing those exemptions, and London seems to have charity first responders on blue lights using this.
Edit: To answer my own question (and uproot the confusion), there's a difference between First Responder and Emergency Responder. Both are volunteers, but the former don't respond on blues and twos but the latter do. Here's LAS page on them.
Edited by rainmakerraw on Sunday 1st March 10:50
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