He's not a policeman ... but stop anyway
Discussion
www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1385904,00.html
He's not a policeman ... but stop anyway
A new kind of civilian highway enforcer has arrived. And if he pulls you over he can ban your car on the spot, writes Max Glaskin
Parvinder Singh was sitting patiently. He had been driving home to show prospective buyers round his house in Gravesend, Kent, when he came across a roadblock and a man in a luminous jacket waved his Ford Galaxy to a standstill. Soon there were people crawling all over the car, checking the depth of his tyre treads, his lights, engine emissions and even the darkness of his tinted windows. And there wasn’t a policeman in sight.
Singh didn’t know it at the time but he was one of the first drivers in Britain to be pulled over by a civilian with the full backing of the law. Thousands more will have the same experience, as powers once reserved for the police are given to increasing numbers of civilians.
These inspectors are employed by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa), a division of the Department for Transport. As part of a scheme launched in the summer, and gradually being rolled out across England and Wales, Vosa officers have been allowed to carry out spot checks on cars to make sure they are roadworthy. Up until now only a police officer could force vehicles to stop.
Next month other civilians will get similar powers. The first of the Highways Agency traffic officers — or Hatos — will be allowed to stop vehicles on the West Midlands motorway network. The officers will later be rolled out across the country with a brief to keep traffic moving. The result is that by the end of 2005 there could be as many as 1,500 civilians legally qualified to pull drivers over.
The intention is to ease the burden on the police. However, critics have complained of a creeping civilianisation of policing the roads. As well as the transfer of powers to Highways Agency and Vosa officers, a pilot project operating in London allows local authority contractors to fine drivers for various offences relating to poor driving, a legal right previously reserved for the police.
Senior policemen are concerned that the number of officers on traffic duty may drop as a result. The Police Superintendents’ Association is carrying out a study to try to prove the anecdotal evidence it has received that numbers have fallen in recent years.
Vosa officers are already having success, however. In October a week-long crackdown in Cambridgeshire saw 24 lorries banned from the road for mechanical defects, drivers exceeding their permitted hours and using diesel bought on the black market. The key advantage for Vosa’s officers is in not having to co-ordinate their hours around the police. “It used to be that if police officers were called away on an emergency we’d have to cancel our check,” says Bob Brockhurst, a Vosa area manager. “Now we can do our checks a lot more efficiently.”
The Vosa team working at Gravesend tries to be as charming as possible and hands drivers information leaflets with telephone hotline numbers in case they need extra reassurance. Not one of the drivers we saw stopped questioned the procedure, but Vosa officers have been issued with photo warrant cards to prove their identity if they do.
“We get a very good response,” says Brockhurst. “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they are happy to help.” Despite their efforts to be matey, Vosa officers’ powers are considerable. If they find a defective car they can issue a “prohibition order”. If a vehicle is dangerous to drive, the order will be issued with immediate effect, so the car must be towed straight to a garage.
Less serious defects will be given an order that comes into effect in 10 days’ time, thus letting the motorist drive home. Once the defects have been rectified the car must be taken to a garage to pass an MoT (at the owner’s expense). The MoT certificate must then be taken to a police station, where it is checked and a form issued that is sent to Vosa, which finally removes the prohibition order from its database.
If the driver ignores the order, Vosa will prosecute. The resulting court fine can be up to £1,000, plus any additional penalty for the actual defect. Motorists who ignore the inspectors’ raised hands will be traced and can be fined.
So do the officers target particular cars as they drive into view? “I can’t name names but some cars we know commonly have difficulty meeting the emissions levels,” says Brockhurst, as a D-reg Metro was waved in, followed by an unkempt H-reg Volvo 440. “We’ll also take a keen interest in boy racers who have got 50-odd extra lights,” he says. His team was soon poring over an N-reg Toyota sports car with skirts and twin exhausts. The officers found nothing wrong until they found one of the tyres was a space-saver and was bald. The owner was issued with a prohibition notice and told to replace it immediately.
The Vosa teams are fully equipped. Their Renault Master vans contain three desktop computers to print prohibition orders. From next year they will have links to the database of all MoTs. There are also two laptops, a mobile emissions tester, a smoke reader for diesel exhausts and a device that tests to see if tinted windscreens and front windows are clear enough to let 75% of all light pass through. Unfortunately Singh’s were not and he was issued with a prohibition order to get them lightened.
“We’re finding MPVs often have tinted windows added, like celebrity cars,” said a Vosa examiner. “Owners have paid to put the tint on, then we find it’s too dark and they have to pay to take it off again.”
He's not a policeman ... but stop anyway
A new kind of civilian highway enforcer has arrived. And if he pulls you over he can ban your car on the spot, writes Max Glaskin
Parvinder Singh was sitting patiently. He had been driving home to show prospective buyers round his house in Gravesend, Kent, when he came across a roadblock and a man in a luminous jacket waved his Ford Galaxy to a standstill. Soon there were people crawling all over the car, checking the depth of his tyre treads, his lights, engine emissions and even the darkness of his tinted windows. And there wasn’t a policeman in sight.
Singh didn’t know it at the time but he was one of the first drivers in Britain to be pulled over by a civilian with the full backing of the law. Thousands more will have the same experience, as powers once reserved for the police are given to increasing numbers of civilians.
These inspectors are employed by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa), a division of the Department for Transport. As part of a scheme launched in the summer, and gradually being rolled out across England and Wales, Vosa officers have been allowed to carry out spot checks on cars to make sure they are roadworthy. Up until now only a police officer could force vehicles to stop.
Next month other civilians will get similar powers. The first of the Highways Agency traffic officers — or Hatos — will be allowed to stop vehicles on the West Midlands motorway network. The officers will later be rolled out across the country with a brief to keep traffic moving. The result is that by the end of 2005 there could be as many as 1,500 civilians legally qualified to pull drivers over.
The intention is to ease the burden on the police. However, critics have complained of a creeping civilianisation of policing the roads. As well as the transfer of powers to Highways Agency and Vosa officers, a pilot project operating in London allows local authority contractors to fine drivers for various offences relating to poor driving, a legal right previously reserved for the police.
Senior policemen are concerned that the number of officers on traffic duty may drop as a result. The Police Superintendents’ Association is carrying out a study to try to prove the anecdotal evidence it has received that numbers have fallen in recent years.
Vosa officers are already having success, however. In October a week-long crackdown in Cambridgeshire saw 24 lorries banned from the road for mechanical defects, drivers exceeding their permitted hours and using diesel bought on the black market. The key advantage for Vosa’s officers is in not having to co-ordinate their hours around the police. “It used to be that if police officers were called away on an emergency we’d have to cancel our check,” says Bob Brockhurst, a Vosa area manager. “Now we can do our checks a lot more efficiently.”
The Vosa team working at Gravesend tries to be as charming as possible and hands drivers information leaflets with telephone hotline numbers in case they need extra reassurance. Not one of the drivers we saw stopped questioned the procedure, but Vosa officers have been issued with photo warrant cards to prove their identity if they do.
“We get a very good response,” says Brockhurst. “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they are happy to help.” Despite their efforts to be matey, Vosa officers’ powers are considerable. If they find a defective car they can issue a “prohibition order”. If a vehicle is dangerous to drive, the order will be issued with immediate effect, so the car must be towed straight to a garage.
Less serious defects will be given an order that comes into effect in 10 days’ time, thus letting the motorist drive home. Once the defects have been rectified the car must be taken to a garage to pass an MoT (at the owner’s expense). The MoT certificate must then be taken to a police station, where it is checked and a form issued that is sent to Vosa, which finally removes the prohibition order from its database.
If the driver ignores the order, Vosa will prosecute. The resulting court fine can be up to £1,000, plus any additional penalty for the actual defect. Motorists who ignore the inspectors’ raised hands will be traced and can be fined.
So do the officers target particular cars as they drive into view? “I can’t name names but some cars we know commonly have difficulty meeting the emissions levels,” says Brockhurst, as a D-reg Metro was waved in, followed by an unkempt H-reg Volvo 440. “We’ll also take a keen interest in boy racers who have got 50-odd extra lights,” he says. His team was soon poring over an N-reg Toyota sports car with skirts and twin exhausts. The officers found nothing wrong until they found one of the tyres was a space-saver and was bald. The owner was issued with a prohibition notice and told to replace it immediately.
The Vosa teams are fully equipped. Their Renault Master vans contain three desktop computers to print prohibition orders. From next year they will have links to the database of all MoTs. There are also two laptops, a mobile emissions tester, a smoke reader for diesel exhausts and a device that tests to see if tinted windscreens and front windows are clear enough to let 75% of all light pass through. Unfortunately Singh’s were not and he was issued with a prohibition order to get them lightened.
“We’re finding MPVs often have tinted windows added, like celebrity cars,” said a Vosa examiner. “Owners have paid to put the tint on, then we find it’s too dark and they have to pay to take it off again.”
This does'nt sound to good does it?
We already have a collection of socially-inadequate miss-fits, here in scameraville, as it is
speed camera (safety team) operatives, and T.O.P.S parking monitors,one of whom has flea in ear from me after yesterday BTW. I have a problem with authority figures as it is, let alone some possee of numpties wearing deputy badges
We already have a collection of socially-inadequate miss-fits, here in scameraville, as it is
speed camera (safety team) operatives, and T.O.P.S parking monitors,one of whom has flea in ear from me after yesterday BTW. I have a problem with authority figures as it is, let alone some possee of numpties wearing deputy badges
And this in spite of research that found where countries have an MoT type test and scrap it, or introduce one, it does nothing significant for their road safety figures - a bit like blanket speed limit enforcement really. If only they'd do it for buses with equal enthusiasm. Posted this before but relevant here:
The West Midlands Traffic Commissioner said:Anonymised so as not to fall foul of naming and shaming but I reckon they'd deserve it, and they're not alone.
I have ordered ABCDE to reduce its fleet to to just 160 buses following a damning report into vehicle safety maintenance at the company. This follows a Vehicle Inspectorate inspection last year,when a large number of buses were found to be unsafe. This restriction comes into force on May 9th 2004 and...
Streetcop said:
Get voting CONSERVATIVE at the next election people, before it's too late... 
Incidentally, nice idea from Conservatives about householders being able to defend themselves against intruders....
Street
yeah those old grannies can really give out some shit
This vehicle checking thing though .. if it gets the real rogue cars better maintained then I'm all for it .. how many dodgy cars tho are owned by dodgy people who know dodgy MOT stations who write out dodgy tickets .. not really thoght this through i think ..
joospeed said:
how many dodgy cars tho are owned by dodgy people who know dodgy MOT stations who write out dodgy tickets .. not really thoght this through i think ..
MOT certs are not worth the paper they're written on....all it means is the car was roadworthy at that time. 24 hours later, the brakes could be faulty, tyres replaced with bald ones, only one headlight lamp working etc etc...and the driver would still have a MOT certificate valid for the next 12 months...
Street
From what I understand this has always been happening, the only change is Mr Civilian can now ask you to stop rather than Mr Policeman. Same job done by same people and frees up one police to do other duties.
However targetting certain cars for looks is wrong unless they are statistically more like to offend.
However targetting certain cars for looks is wrong unless they are statistically more like to offend.
With regard to the tinting issue, I really don't understand their way of thinking on this. I could buy an escort van with only the drivers and passenger and windscreen clear - the rest of the van would be a metal box, thus letting no light in.
How then can they say that window tinting is too dark?
How then can they say that window tinting is too dark?
parrot of doom said:
With regard to the tinting issue, I really don't understand their way of thinking on this. I could buy an escort van with only the drivers and passenger and windscreen clear - the rest of the van would be a metal box, thus letting no light in.
How then can they say that window tinting is too dark?
iirc it only is relates for the windows you mentioned so drivers/passengers door windows and windscreens.
Iain
Any civvy runs a serious risk of me running him over if they try to stop me...only police in a correct uniform will be heeded....any nasti nazi in another uniform will be considered a hijacker or similar and will be driven AT!
Ask some of those socialist scum at the port of dover who tried to stop me getting onto a ferry (scumbag socialist union pickets) they found it difficult to argue with an audi quattro accellerating hard straight at them and dived for cover..... Police told me I was completely within my rights to defend my safety....
Ask some of those socialist scum at the port of dover who tried to stop me getting onto a ferry (scumbag socialist union pickets) they found it difficult to argue with an audi quattro accellerating hard straight at them and dived for cover..... Police told me I was completely within my rights to defend my safety....
Streetcop said:
Get voting CONSERVATIVE at the next election people, before it's too late...
Incidentally, nice idea from Conservatives about householders being able to defend themselves against intruders....
Street
Agreed, though I honestly can not feel much enthusiasm for voting for anybody on current form. It's mainly a matter of feeling thankful that we have the opportunity to vote, and not wanting to ignore it.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
TripleS said:Sure they're all a waste of time space and money - but not a waste of a vote. The muppetry of the current buch is so bad we must vote Tory to get the lunatics out of the asylum. The Conservatives will make mistakes, unzip at the wrong bedroom and generally tax / restrict as before, but it can not possibly be as bad as this lot. Tiny Bliar and his coterie should be sectioned.
Get voting CONSERVATIVE at the next election people, before it's too late...
turbobloke said:
Get voting CONSERVATIVE at the next election people, before it's too late...
Agreed, though I honestly can not feel much enthusiasm for voting for anybody on current form. It's mainly a matter of feeling thankful that we have the opportunity to vote, and not wanting to ignore it. Best wishes all, Dave.
Sure they're all a waste of time space and money - but not a waste of a vote. The muppetry of the current buch is so bad we must vote Tory to get the lunatics out of the asylum. The Conservatives will make mistakes, unzip at the wrong bedroom and generally tax / restrict as before, but it can not possibly be as bad as this lot. Tiny Bliar and his coterie should be sectioned.
Agreed. I didn't mean it was a completely wasted vote.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff