Police Aggression at Car Meets

[Aidancky]

Hi all

I attended a car meet last night where I was wierdly singled out and spoken to in some interesting ways, despite me committing no crimes and being 100% polite at all times. I'm curious about the legalities of some things that were said.

So; a meet was planned on facebook by some local car group (who i dont know) - I attended since as it's getting to the time of the year where meets stop due to the weather.

A person was revving at the first location and around 6 police vehicles turned up just to keep an eye on things it seemed. Later on the meet moved to another location and I ended up going there to meet up with one of my friends.

Some of the attendees were driving like idiots in the carpark; and shortly after the police turned up and asked everyone to leave. Here's where my issues start:

A young male police officer walked past me, shouted "get back in your car, and fk OFF!", in a way that reminded me of a teenager having a tantrum. I didn't react to this, and started getting ready to leave. Me and my friend arranged another place to meet up to have a chat away from the meet.

A female police officer then approached me as I was sat in my car, and started to threaten me with a Section 59 offence, saying that I could have my car siezed and be fined. Bear in mind I was sat in a car with the engine turned off, had not done anything silly, or illegal.

So I said I was leaving, and drove to another carpark, just with my 1 other friend so we could have a chat. This officer approached me AGAIN, threatening both of us with Section 59's and our cars would be siezed.

I was 100% polite, friendly and compliant with these officers the entire time. The female officer even said I was the only person there who had not abused her.

Is this legal? I was being harrassed by 2 police officers very unprofessionally, i was being told to leave a public carpark when I had committed no offences or disturbance. Not even a rev of the car, I drove at 20mph or less in and out of these places.

- Can I be given a Section 59 for being near a car meet?
- Can my car be siezed for being parked 300m from a car meet in a carpark?
- Are police officers supposed to tell people to "fk off", wouldn't I have being possibly detained if i'd retaliated to that?

Edited by Aidancky on Sunday 1st December 23:42

[Aidancky]

Lemming Train said:

This thread won't go the way you are hoping . The site is about 50% police and it'll be turned around accusing you of making stuff up and/or missing out important bits and/or "you failed the attitude test" etc etc. I can guarantee you it won't be the police's fault.

If people want to take it that way, sure - but I just felt these officers were trying to intimidate me when I was complying with everything they were asking - the lady officer wouldn't leave me alone despite me being friendly and agreeing to leave when she asked...

I don't bother with aggressive attitude with police as it seems pointless to me to do that.

[Aidancky]

Cerdo Espada said:

Did he commit an offence with his verbal onslaught ? Any footage ? Report him.

The entirety of his onslaught is what I said. "Get back in your car and fk OFF" as he walked past me, didn't even look up as he said it. No, I dont have any footage. Was just curious if this is normal for officers to be doing.

[Aidancky]

BertBert said:

the reason why s59 was created is that it's very hard for plod to stop anti social car behaviour. The very thing that your group was involved in.

As you heard the police get a load of abuse for doing their jobs and I suspect, don't have the time or inclination to be nice to the less rowdy of a meet.

I'm not saying the language was right, but I'm not surprised they do a lot of shouting to break rowdy groups up.

Bert

I do get that. But is a section 59 applicable for someone stood next to a car that was turned off? And hadn't been used for anything anti-social. I had been at the meet for 5 minutes at that point. They told me to leave and I was getting in the car to leave when this officer started threatening me with a Section 59 lol

[Aidancky]

OldGermanHeaps said:

covert body cams are very cheap now, carry one to the next meet. if it is as you describe it puts you in a much better position.

This is probably 1 of 5 meets i've been to this year. And the other 4 have been on private land organised by the landowner. I have a dashcam in one of my cars that would have picked it up, but I was in my other car.

I just don't get the attitude they had. It's a car meet, not like we were having a rave or dealing or something...

[Aidancky]

Evanivitch said:

The old snails-pace compliance? How long was this duration of "getting ready to leave" (which is what exactly in a modern car?) and still being sat there with the engine off?

Literally a couple of minutes? Whats with the attitude?

They walked past us saying to leave. Got in the car and the woman is next to me threatening me to go....

[Aidancky]

Doofus said:

There's nothing odd about this. Oh no.

A friend I hadn't seen in a few months. Who i'd arranged to meet up with, before the police kicked us out.

What's odd about wanting to chat to a friend for more than a minute? Or are you not used to the concept of friends?

[Aidancky]

I can see the old fuddy-duddys are in the thread, making assumptions that are so illogical it hurts.

My whole point was:

- I did nothing wrong
- I complied with the police
- I was polite and friendly
- My body language was non-threatening, i'm a short, skinny guy. Not exactly going to be intimidating.
- This police woman spent 5-10 mins of her time threatening me with fines or my car being siezed despite me breaking no laws and complying with what they asked.
- The police woman specifically said "you guys are the only 2 people that haven't told us to fk off when we spoke to you", then she proceeded to intimidate and threaten me....

Thats the end of it - I get that not everyone likes meets, and for some people - the police can do no wrong.

I've only ever had good experiences with the police before. But this kind of attitude of threatening me because i'm a young lad with a modified car.... is concerning to someone law-abiding such as myself.

Good to see some other perspectives in here, including others wrongly targeted by the police. Guessing also below 40 and male.

Interestingly at this meet there were also families, middle aged men as well as young guys. But of course I get targeted. Funny that!