Unmarked police car with a cheeky private plate

[Sukh13]

Would it be possible to do a freedom of information request for all the cars a police force has?

Then you could quite easily work out which are undercover cars?

[Sigmamark7]

Some time ago there was a bit of fuss at the Prison at Eastwood Park and an unmarked Audi A5 or S5 was heading quickly in that direction with 4 burly plain clothes types on board and the Blues and Twos giving it their all. The registration number was L8 JOB.

[sjabrown]

mph1977 said:

sjabrown said:

Highly unlikely (but not impossible) that it is/was a doctors car. I cannot think of a reason for a doctor to have blues fitted to their private car - normally a green flasher on the roof if anything is fitted at all for a private vehicle. If this was part of their day job then they'd be in a rapid response vehicle of some sort fully marked up.

When on weekend duty doing home visits (GP) we use Honda CRVs with green lights if needing to get to someone ASAP to encourage folk to move out the way.

A Doctor responding on behalf of the Ambulance service may have blues and twos and claim exemptions as a 'vehicle used for ambulance purposes' , few if any of the Doctors responding for Ambulance service have marked vehicles even if they have a Ambulance service supplied vehicle (e.g. Medical directors, ditto with Paramedics, Techs and other Health professionals in senior roles with the ambulance service where they may be required to respond ) - a lot of the doctors working on behalf of the ambulance service do so not as employees but as 'contractors' via Immediate Care Schemes

Any Doctor with full registration may fit green beacons and special warning devices but not a siren and they have no rights to claim exemptions...

That puts it better than I could! Certainly up in this part of the world (rural west coast of scotland) it's unmarked greens, GP out of hours vehicles with markings and greens or full marked SAS vehicles on blues. The BASICS (immediate care) docs only use greens locally.

[Tom H]

dannytherev said:

Could it have been a "fire chiefs" car where I live there is a Passat CC that is a Fire Chiefs car this has strobes behind the grille

This is the most likely, working in the insurance industry I know of a few fire leased cars insured in individuals name. Never had a police vehilce though.

[insanojackson]

Tom H said:

dannytherev said:

Could it have been a "fire chiefs" car where I live there is a Passat CC that is a Fire Chiefs car this has strobes behind the grille

This is the most likely, working in the insurance industry I know of a few fire leased cars insured in individuals name. Never had a police vehilce though.

this is probably the most likely answer, i pulled a rover one night that was driving along with blue lights as it just came back as a lease car on pnc. The driver was some fire officer en route to a job. He wasnt happy but i told him tough, if your car was properly shown/registered on pnc as a fire vehicle i wouldnt have stopped you

[jjones]

no the police definetly use a black unmarked r32, not sure on the plate though, they also have one for firearms use.

[dannytherev]

insanojackson said:

Tom H said:

dannytherev said:

Could it have been a "fire chiefs" car where I live there is a Passat CC that is a Fire Chiefs car this has strobes behind the grille

This is the most likely, working in the insurance industry I know of a few fire leased cars insured in individuals name. Never had a police vehilce though.

this is probably the most likely answer, i pulled a rover one night that was driving along with blue lights as it just came back as a lease car on pnc. The driver was some fire officer en route to a job. He wasnt happy but i told him tough, if your car was properly shown/registered on pnc as a fire vehicle i wouldnt have stopped you

There is also a Civic Type S and a Golf GTD near me both have only grille strobes

[eskidavies73]

jjones said:

no the police definetly use a black unmarked r32, not sure on the plate though, they also have one for firearms use.

perhap the armed response were chasing armed criminals and they had an off and he would av been first on scene

[eskidavies73]

this is probably the most likely answer, i pulled a rover one night that was driving along with blue lights as it just came back as a lease car on pnc. The driver was some fire officer en route to a job. He wasnt happy but i told him tough, if your car was properly shown/registered on pnc as a fire vehicle i wouldnt have stopped you
[/quote]

surely no need to have the guy get out a chat to him after a cursory glance and establishing he was emergency services you should av put your strobes on and cleared the route ahead for and possibly helped put when you get there

[Rockape]

Rawwr said:

I seem to recall something about the 'higher ups' being allowed to have blues on private cars for instances where they need to attend scenes urgently. This may be complete poop, though. I'm sure someone will clarify.

Higher Ups attending a scene urgently. Your have a larf. Bet the majority don't even know how to turn the stuff on. Lost count how many times I've been called out in the middle of the night for instances when a quick attendance is required yet I don't have any emergency kit on my own car.

[Stick Legs]

How much of this can go on before it becomes entrapment?

Devon & Cornwall have a V70 with a GB sticker and privacy glass. It makes the game a bit unfair. ;-)

[MrMoonyMan]

zollburgers said:

I saw BACON 1 on an unmarked cop car, the driver looked soooo ashamed.

No you didn't.

[TheRoadWarrior]

If the police are using private plates in an effort to 'blend in' it kinda shows how exclusive private plates are.. i.e. not very.

Each to their own of course, but I really cannot understand the desire to spend £250 or whatever on a few letters than mean nothing to anyone but yourself.

[doof doof doof]

750turbo said:

BDR529 said:

redstu said:

That's 250 quid of taxpayers money wasted, whoever authorised that should be sacked.

Absolutely. And that's IF the plate was £250, could easily be more..


Unless the car was seized from somebody like a drug dealer and it had the plate previously, but I doubt it.

You may be spot on sir? I believe that Strathclyde Police had an Q7 (4WD thingy) that was obtained in this way. I think they binned it as it was drawing a bit too much attention though.

Proceeds of crime methinks....?

What, a bit like this?
http://www.zercustoms.com/news/ABT-Audi-Q7-police-...

[sebhaque]

Possibly a fire chief's, there's a video on YouTube of a fire chief leaving the station in his Audi TT with light bars.

Edit: found it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qojOvrHKdww

Edited by sebhaque on Tuesday 25th January 22:25

[eskidavies73]

doof doof doof said:

750turbo said:

BDR529 said:

redstu said:

That's 250 quid of taxpayers money wasted, whoever authorised that should be sacked.

Absolutely. And that's IF the plate was £250, could easily be more..


Unless the car was seized from somebody like a drug dealer and it had the plate previously, but I doubt it.

You may be spot on sir? I believe that Strathclyde Police had an Q7 (4WD thingy) that was obtained in this way. I think they binned it as it was drawing a bit too much attention though.

Proceeds of crime methinks....?

What, a bit like this?
http://www.zercustoms.com/news/ABT-Audi-Q7-police-...

im sure south wales police got this now armed response section sure its mentioned in another thread

[christofmccracke]

Maybe they are confiscated cars they are using ?

[Blue Oval84]

TheRoadWarrior said:

If the police are using private plates in an effort to 'blend in' it kinda shows how exclusive private plates are.. i.e. not very.

Each to their own of course, but I really cannot understand the desire to spend £250 or whatever on a few letters than mean nothing to anyone but yourself.

You've negated your own point there though, I bought one precisely and only because the numbers and letters mean something to me, no one else will ever guess, even my dad only figured out one half of the plate

[RJDM3]

Why the hell do they need an R32?? An astra should be sufficient. So they take the piss with an expensive hatch and to add insult a private plate!! No wonder they have to make some bobbies redundant, they spend money on uneeded expensive cars.

[Night Runner]

insanojackson said:

Tom H said:

dannytherev said:

Could it have been a "fire chiefs" car where I live there is a Passat CC that is a Fire Chiefs car this has strobes behind the grille

This is the most likely, working in the insurance industry I know of a few fire leased cars insured in individuals name. Never had a police vehilce though.

this is probably the most likely answer, i pulled a rover one night that was driving along with blue lights as it just came back as a lease car on pnc. The driver was some fire officer en route to a job. He wasnt happy but i told him tough, if your car was properly shown/registered on pnc as a fire vehicle i wouldnt have stopped you

So you effectively de-prioritised his (assumingly correctly marked) blue light call just so you could have a chat? Really?

Not starting a ruckus, just genuinely curious.

Edited due to my inability to work my iPhone whilst sleepy!

Edited by Night Runner on Tuesday 25th January 23:54