First pull in maybe 17 years!!
Discussion
Well, driving home last night (or rather, 00:50 this morning) past a parked up police car, to see the headlights come on and catch me up. This was outskirts of town. Followed me for about half a mile before the blues came on. Immediately pulled over and then I'm trying to guess what it could be about. Flat tire, light out, don't know. Police pulled up along side and the police woman in the passenger side lowered her window, as I did. Lot of pleasantries, and 'your number plate is really dirty'. I didn't realise but it is quite dirty weather, said I don't think I've got a cloth, and apologised. Police happy, try to keep it visible, have a nice evening, and off they went!
It's actually nice to be stopped now and again, and wondered how for instance, a drink driver would feel and react if that happened to them. When I got home I have to admit that the plate was bloody dirty!! Golfs for you. The rest of the car was reasonably clean.
It's actually nice to be stopped now and again, and wondered how for instance, a drink driver would feel and react if that happened to them. When I got home I have to admit that the plate was bloody dirty!! Golfs for you. The rest of the car was reasonably clean.
Dirty number plate unable to be read by ANPR and other cameras !
Your also driving a type of car thats often stolen.
We used to stop loads of cars for a routne check especially those that are often stolen.
Vast majority of people were absolutely fine about it. Minor traffic offences i dealt with by words of advice as my style was never to do somebody for something i wouldnt expect to be done for..
Your also driving a type of car thats often stolen.
We used to stop loads of cars for a routne check especially those that are often stolen.
Vast majority of people were absolutely fine about it. Minor traffic offences i dealt with by words of advice as my style was never to do somebody for something i wouldnt expect to be done for..
The_Nugget said:
And they were having a word to see if they could smell any booze I reckon.
I thought that too, which is a good thing. Was all very friendly, just a rare thing to see blues behind me. They usually overtake, not flash you over. Years ago a friend of mine worked in a bar and his clothes would stink of beer after the shift. He'd then drive home in the early hours, occasionally get stopped and always got breathalysed, which was always negative. Sometimes to the disbelief of the police. I got pulled a little while ago in the Touareg, they wanted to check to see if I was insured. Few minutes later they're happy and wish me a good evening, same back to them. Not sure why people get so agitated over a routine stop, I'm sure the same people wouldn't mind it if their car was nicked and found through a routine stop.
Generally I agree, I’ve always been happy with a brief tug - so to speak.
Sometimes it’s a bit weird. I once got pulled driving my missus’s brand new Passat company car when I was maybe 30. We were ‘4’ up with lads who were early 20’s on the way back from 5a side football.
Pulled me over, asked whose the car was, when I told them, they said they’d pulled me because of the manner of my driving, in traffic about 25 mph - said it looked like I was thinking about overtaking. I wasn’t.
I think in reality they saw a group of lads that didn’t fit their perceptions of who should be in the car, saw all of us in football kit and realised we were legit.
I don’t really have a problem with it, the sniff test must often yield results.
Sometimes it’s a bit weird. I once got pulled driving my missus’s brand new Passat company car when I was maybe 30. We were ‘4’ up with lads who were early 20’s on the way back from 5a side football.
Pulled me over, asked whose the car was, when I told them, they said they’d pulled me because of the manner of my driving, in traffic about 25 mph - said it looked like I was thinking about overtaking. I wasn’t.
I think in reality they saw a group of lads that didn’t fit their perceptions of who should be in the car, saw all of us in football kit and realised we were legit.
I don’t really have a problem with it, the sniff test must often yield results.
It's been decades since I was actually pulled over to be checked for anything.
Last time was about 20 years ago at 4am in a van , 2 coppers stopped me just to check it as the headrests made it look like it had 3 people in it
They apologised for pulling me over but I thanked them , had it been stolen at least there's a slim chance they might get caught.
Not long after that I left again at 4am , got 200m up the road and couldn't remember if I'd locked the door so pulled up to think about it with the intention of walking back to check.
Behind me a car stopped but there's a post box there so I didn't think anything of it but then the car pulled alongside me and a woman motioned me to open the window
In a thick irish accent she asked if I was lost , I said no and started to move off, as I did I saw the male driver say f
k , they followed me up to a set of lights that changed as I approached them but I wasn't stopping if they hadn't.
I think they'd dropped somebody off behind me and they were trying to distract me while he got in but ultimately nothing happened.
Thieves are out at 4am so coppers stopping people is a good thing
Last time was about 20 years ago at 4am in a van , 2 coppers stopped me just to check it as the headrests made it look like it had 3 people in it
They apologised for pulling me over but I thanked them , had it been stolen at least there's a slim chance they might get caught.
Not long after that I left again at 4am , got 200m up the road and couldn't remember if I'd locked the door so pulled up to think about it with the intention of walking back to check.
Behind me a car stopped but there's a post box there so I didn't think anything of it but then the car pulled alongside me and a woman motioned me to open the window
In a thick irish accent she asked if I was lost , I said no and started to move off, as I did I saw the male driver say f
k , they followed me up to a set of lights that changed as I approached them but I wasn't stopping if they hadn't. I think they'd dropped somebody off behind me and they were trying to distract me while he got in but ultimately nothing happened.
Thieves are out at 4am so coppers stopping people is a good thing
My best pullover was proper old school ploddery!
My first car was a Chevette, this would be 1988, I worked at Sainsburys, we could use a multi story as a works car park.
Was about 9pm, finished work, came out the multi and you went 90 left out the exit onto the road and then a 90 right to take you to the main road about half a mile away.
Was icy, being a young bellend, decided to give it beans out the 90 right, full broadside, held it perfectly, only to see a copper parked in a lay-by right in front of me!
He was firm at first, then was OK, let me off, gave me a talking to about going too fast and when its icy etc.
My first car was a Chevette, this would be 1988, I worked at Sainsburys, we could use a multi story as a works car park.
Was about 9pm, finished work, came out the multi and you went 90 left out the exit onto the road and then a 90 right to take you to the main road about half a mile away.
Was icy, being a young bellend, decided to give it beans out the 90 right, full broadside, held it perfectly, only to see a copper parked in a lay-by right in front of me!
He was firm at first, then was OK, let me off, gave me a talking to about going too fast and when its icy etc.
I used to get pulled what felt like once a month when I was 18/19. Drove a modified VW Beetle and worked in one of the popular bars in town. Always on my way home early morning, stinking to high heaven of booze from my shift. Breathalysed every time. Officers were always courteous as was I. An inconvenience but nothing more.
scottydoesntknow said:
I used to get pulled what felt like once a month when I was 18/19. Drove a modified VW Beetle and worked in one of the popular bars in town. Always on my way home early morning, stinking to high heaven of booze from my shift. Breathalysed every time. Officers were always courteous as was I. An inconvenience but nothing more.
Think I was 25 when I could afford the insurance on my first Golf GTI. It was gun metal grey and appeared to have an invisibility cloak over it, right up to me getting a Scorpion Sport stainless steel exhaust pipe on it. From that point it had big bright neon arrows pointing at it. Never actually got stopped, just followed a lot. I had an Impreza when I was 19, I got pulled over a few times in that. I moved to an M3 at 21 and, again, cop central. No real issues from me, never had anything but polite and relatively short stops. I enjoyed sitting in the front of a motorway plod 5-series once and prodding a few buttons (I turned the wig-wags off and turned on the KEEP RIGHT >>>>> sign).
Anecdotally, I've had some fun cars on the drive for a few years but I bought another Impreza a few years ago. Having driven a C63 to work daily, the day I bought my Impreza and drove it to work, I got a tug from the local plod for driving "too fast" around the roundabout. I was driving 5mph slower than I used to in my Merc (I took the roundabout at 35mph in the C63 and at 30mph in the Subaru, speed limit 40mph and a very open and well-sighted roundabout to boot) - and the police were often parked by the roundabout anyway!
Again, no hard feelings. If anything, it drew my attention to where I needed to behave and where I could be a little silly/exuberant whilst remaining within the spirit of the law.
Anecdotally, I've had some fun cars on the drive for a few years but I bought another Impreza a few years ago. Having driven a C63 to work daily, the day I bought my Impreza and drove it to work, I got a tug from the local plod for driving "too fast" around the roundabout. I was driving 5mph slower than I used to in my Merc (I took the roundabout at 35mph in the C63 and at 30mph in the Subaru, speed limit 40mph and a very open and well-sighted roundabout to boot) - and the police were often parked by the roundabout anyway!
Again, no hard feelings. If anything, it drew my attention to where I needed to behave and where I could be a little silly/exuberant whilst remaining within the spirit of the law.
My first car was a Bedford HA van ( think Viva with a van format).
Driving home from girlfriends after midnight I was stopped a couple of times. Nothing untoward and eventually the officers just waved to me as I passed as they realised I was not up to no good.
Checked the van outside and inside, no breathalyser as not needed.
It didn’t worry me as I thought I was an obvious target in that type of vehicle on that route.
I got to know one of them a few years later as his son was in my son’s class in school. He was then out of the force and a snooker referee regularly on TV. We laughed about him stopping me.
Since then I have never been pulled over apart from in a training exercise by local police where they were teaching recruits and set up a stop point at a large lay-by. Again no issues and no problem.
Driving home from girlfriends after midnight I was stopped a couple of times. Nothing untoward and eventually the officers just waved to me as I passed as they realised I was not up to no good.
Checked the van outside and inside, no breathalyser as not needed.
It didn’t worry me as I thought I was an obvious target in that type of vehicle on that route.
I got to know one of them a few years later as his son was in my son’s class in school. He was then out of the force and a snooker referee regularly on TV. We laughed about him stopping me.
Since then I have never been pulled over apart from in a training exercise by local police where they were teaching recruits and set up a stop point at a large lay-by. Again no issues and no problem.
Stopped two weeks back...around a similar time was shall we say moving pretty fast so the stop was justified. The two coppers didn't even get out of their car, pulled alongside v politely reminded me about my erm shall we say swift progress towards home and to calm it down a bit followed by a have a good evening and I said my apologies. No complaints from me, that's how it should be done...however I will say the speed at which they came from nowhere and were then tailgating me was blistering...they had no headlights or sirens so caught me off guard completely, well executed lol.
I've been stopped in similar circumstances to the OP, the young copper said I was obviously trying to lose him by taking the first left-turn after he caught up with me... he asked for my address... He'd actually stopped me across the road from my house so realised I wasn't a scallywag! He was perfectly pleasant after that, but he did seem disappointed that I blew zero.
The other time was on holiday on a Spanish island, they were stopping every hirecar to check papers, El Ploddo got in close to sniff my breath and sent me on my way... Fair enough, I'd seen plenty of tourists drinking several alcoholic drinks then getting behind the wheel so was quite glad.
The other time was on holiday on a Spanish island, they were stopping every hirecar to check papers, El Ploddo got in close to sniff my breath and sent me on my way... Fair enough, I'd seen plenty of tourists drinking several alcoholic drinks then getting behind the wheel so was quite glad.
VR99 said:
Stopped two weeks back...around a similar time was shall we say moving pretty fast so the stop was justified........
You were driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on the public highway - That's all the justification the police need to pull you over.Contrary to popular belief, they don't have to come up with an excuse such as speeding, failed bulb, dirty number plate, failing to indicate, a tyre looking flat, or any of that sort of nonsense to pull you over - They can stop you at any time to check your details, to ensure you are licensed to drive the vehicle.
4rephill said:
VR99 said:
Stopped two weeks back...around a similar time was shall we say moving pretty fast so the stop was justified........
You were driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on the public highway - That's all the justification the police need to pull you over.Contrary to popular belief, they don't have to come up with an excuse such as speeding, failed bulb, dirty number plate, failing to indicate, a tyre looking flat, or any of that sort of nonsense to pull you over - They can stop you at any time to check your details, to ensure you are licensed to drive the vehicle.
I got stopped early evening on New Year's eve driving a modified Jeep Wrangler. I live rural but this was a proper traffic patrol from the city. They pointed out that my number plate light was only partially illuminated. It was and I didn't know. A 5 min light hearted chat about Jeeps followed, they breathalyzed me ( think I would have scored a Zero every day for the past 20 years!) and we shook hands and said friendly goodbyes. I'm sure all their other stops were less enjoyable that day but more power to them.
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