"FIRE" signs in civ. cars
Discussion
Just a quicky,
Down the road from my house is the local fire station. Sometimes when im driving around there is a guy in a renault clio with a "FIRE" numberplate sized sign in his front window who flashes his headlights and beeps his horn to get poeple to pull over.
There is another guy in an E reg astra that also does it.
I know they both work at the fire station and I fully support their actions (I pull over etc as its fairly obvious that they are not driving a la B**
) but I was wondering, if they got caught by one of our upstanding members of the Safety camera partnership, would they get done for speeding?
If they did I would be the first to run to their defense as I know they only do it to get to the fire station on time.
I am fairly sure that the local BiB have enough common sense to let it drop but we all know how "desperate" the government seems to be for cash these days...
Gh0st
Down the road from my house is the local fire station. Sometimes when im driving around there is a guy in a renault clio with a "FIRE" numberplate sized sign in his front window who flashes his headlights and beeps his horn to get poeple to pull over.
There is another guy in an E reg astra that also does it.
I know they both work at the fire station and I fully support their actions (I pull over etc as its fairly obvious that they are not driving a la B**
) but I was wondering, if they got caught by one of our upstanding members of the Safety camera partnership, would they get done for speeding? If they did I would be the first to run to their defense as I know they only do it to get to the fire station on time.
I am fairly sure that the local BiB have enough common sense to let it drop but we all know how "desperate" the government seems to be for cash these days...
Gh0st
One of these, eh?
It's a difficult one to say for certain..
I think the worse that could happen was for the 'picture' to be taken and then the driver/fireman would have to prove that the speed was necessary in the circumstances.
The car would also have to be insured for business and in particular emergency services use.
The signs are usually to enable the fire service guys to park on double yellow lines either at an 'incident' or when conducting inspections of business premisises.
The plain vehicles that are used for 'emergency' responce are either fire service supervisors or the normal personnel that are based in rural locations and need to respond in an emergency from home to the station. These vehicle either have strobelights in the grill or more usually have a magnetic roof mount..
Street
It's a difficult one to say for certain..
I think the worse that could happen was for the 'picture' to be taken and then the driver/fireman would have to prove that the speed was necessary in the circumstances.
The car would also have to be insured for business and in particular emergency services use.
The signs are usually to enable the fire service guys to park on double yellow lines either at an 'incident' or when conducting inspections of business premisises.
The plain vehicles that are used for 'emergency' responce are either fire service supervisors or the normal personnel that are based in rural locations and need to respond in an emergency from home to the station. These vehicle either have strobelights in the grill or more usually have a magnetic roof mount..
Street
Sounds like retained firefighters, my dad was one for years but didn't use a sign.
They weren't authorised to break speed limits or use any blue lights but as far as I know people generally drove as fast as safely possible. Most firefighters are blue light trained on HGV's so they pretty good drivers.
The signs are usually so that people don't park their cars in (which would be a bit of a disaster). If less than three people turn up the engine can't turn out and they have to send another one.
Business or emergency service insurance isn't needed, you declare your job as "retained firefighter", and by it's nature you need to drive to/from it as and when required.
At the end of the day if you were standing at your bedroom window with flames licking around your feet you would probably want everybody to turn out as quickly as possible and not fanny about at 30mph to avoid setting off a speed camera.
Gareth
They weren't authorised to break speed limits or use any blue lights but as far as I know people generally drove as fast as safely possible. Most firefighters are blue light trained on HGV's so they pretty good drivers.
The signs are usually so that people don't park their cars in (which would be a bit of a disaster). If less than three people turn up the engine can't turn out and they have to send another one.
Business or emergency service insurance isn't needed, you declare your job as "retained firefighter", and by it's nature you need to drive to/from it as and when required.
At the end of the day if you were standing at your bedroom window with flames licking around your feet you would probably want everybody to turn out as quickly as possible and not fanny about at 30mph to avoid setting off a speed camera.
Gareth
Streetcop said:
One of these, eh?
Street
Yup.
There were no strobes or other lighting, just driving and flashing his headlights and waving people out the way. Had it not been for the "FIRE" sign I would have thought it was a school run mum
As I said, fair play to em, I just hope that if they are rushing to Brunstroms house in emergencey that they obay the limit as strictly as they have been told....
PetrolTed said:
Some nice kit on www.999supplies.com
Absolutely...i wouldn't shop anywhere else...
I do however, put my goods in a Marks & Spencers carrier bag for the journey from car, along driveway to house, in case posh neighbours see me..
Street
We have a similar problem here with the lifeboat, the BiB are pretty good but the local PAs had a spate of ticketing crew cars who had to park on the main road when the lifeboat station parking was taken up by those visiting the adjacent bar-restaurant.
As befits one of the most frequently called out lifeboats in the UK the local authority have sorted out the parking and squashed the fines.
As befits one of the most frequently called out lifeboats in the UK the local authority have sorted out the parking and squashed the fines.
Streetcop said:
The signs are usually to enable the fire service guys to park on double yellow lines either at an 'incident' or when conducting inspections of business premisises.
The plain vehicles that are used for 'emergency' responce are either fire service supervisors or the normal personnel that are based in rural locations and need to respond in an emergency from home to the station. These vehicle either have strobelights in the grill or more usually have a magnetic roof mount..
Street
Missed the point again SC. As someone who lives out in the sticks and near the coast, the retained firefighters and lifeboat crew who I know have these shown when they are called out. They are purely there to show the rest of the motoring public that they are driving quickly for a reason. All the drivers I know are aware that they have no immunity from traffic rules, but to their eternal credit are willing to take the chance when lives are possibly at stake. As far as i am aware, it would be illegal to fit strobes and/or lights and sirens to private vehicles. (Unless they bought the vauxhall thingy off Ebay!)
The exemption which applies to the emergency services, i.e. the Police, Fire, Ambulance, may well apply here to a retained firefighter. There is no requirement for blue lights and/or sirens to be used. You have to show that to obey the speed limit/red light etc... would hinder the purpose for which the vehicle was being used.
I would suggest that a fireman responding to a '999' call-out would be covered. The likes of cave rescue and lifeboats, and indeed HM Coastguard come under the 'ambulance' category, as they are providing a response with the aim to save life in an emergency.
As an aside, Doctors using a green light have NO exemption. A green light is there to aid "lawful progress." I've never known a Police Officer stupid enough to even stop a Doctor with a green light. However, there may be problems if the Inland Revenue, ahem, "Safety Camera Partnerships" were involved.
I would suggest that a fireman responding to a '999' call-out would be covered. The likes of cave rescue and lifeboats, and indeed HM Coastguard come under the 'ambulance' category, as they are providing a response with the aim to save life in an emergency.
As an aside, Doctors using a green light have NO exemption. A green light is there to aid "lawful progress." I've never known a Police Officer stupid enough to even stop a Doctor with a green light. However, there may be problems if the Inland Revenue, ahem, "Safety Camera Partnerships" were involved.
I rather think St's remark about insurance and also any "exemption" from obeying traffic laws would depend on whether the use of the vehicle was classified as "business use" or "commuting from home to place of work". I rather suspect the latter, so there would be no need to insure for "travel in connection with any business", and all traffic laws would have to be obeyed under usual punishment for transgression. It might be difficult to, "Eat your cake and have it too." (with the words in the correct order for once ) - Streaky
's remark about insurance and also any "exemption" from obeying traffic laws would depend on whether the use of the vehicle was classified as "business use" or "commuting from home to place of work". I rather suspect the latter, so there would be no need to insure for "travel in connection with any business", and all traffic laws would have to be obeyed under usual punishment for transgression. It might be difficult to, "Eat your cake and have it too." (with the words in the correct order for once ) - Streakyxxplod said:
As an aside, Doctors using a green light have NO exemption. A green light is there to aid "lawful progress." I've never known a Police Officer stupid enough to even stop a Doctor with a green light. However, there may be problems if the Inland Revenue, ahem, "Safety Camera Partnerships" were involved.
This is one of my main problems with the anally robotic idiot scamera partnerships. The stupid £££grabbign f
s wouldnt think twice as long as they got their £60 or whatever. That would probably put a doctor off getting to a house quickly - NOW whose saving lifes.... You switched on pistonheads will probably know this already; but the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 restrict the fitting of blue warning beacons to the following emergency vehicles;
police (including military, ports, parks, UAE)
fire brigade
ambulance
fire salvage
forestry commission fire vehicles
bobm disposal
naval nuclear monitoring
RAF armament support
blood transfusion service
HM coastguard
mine rescue
RNLI Lifeboat Launcher
Human tissue transplant
Street
police (including military, ports, parks, UAE)
fire brigade
ambulance
fire salvage
forestry commission fire vehicles
bobm disposal
naval nuclear monitoring
RAF armament support
blood transfusion service
HM coastguard
mine rescue
RNLI Lifeboat Launcher
Human tissue transplant
Street
mel said:
So what about the Dartford River Crossing Patrol ? They certainly aren't police since its privately owned now, they are more likely to be classes as security gaurds but they've got them.
S28 Dartford River Crossing Act 1988 doesn't actually mention blue lights, but it does direct the crossing operator (whomever that may be) to appoint traffic officers who have the power to stop and direct traffic on the crossing/approach roads while in uniform; various amendment regs also allow such traffic officers to remove vehicles from the tunnel highway or approach roads and so on - powers that only BiB have elsewhere - wondering whether this migth have something to do with it...?
xxplod said:
As an aside, Doctors using a green light have NO exemption. A green light is there to aid "lawful progress." I've never known a Police Officer stupid enough to even stop a Doctor with a green light.
I'm sure I've seen a post on here from a doctor who stopped using his green light because he was fed up with being pulled over.
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