Pulled over for "giving a bad impression"

[M5 Mark]

Pulled over a few weeks back for "giving a bad impression" just curious on anyone elses take on this? Is it right?

Coming down the M3 there was a marked 5 series in the midle lane. I was very careful NOT to speed. Was keeping an eye on the GPS as I went past. GPS showing 71-72 and dial showing 75. he follows for about mile (doing vehicle check he told me later) then pulls me over.

To be fair he was very polite and reasonable but explained that he HAD to pull me over because it gives a bad impression someone passing a marked police car in powerful car! He stated what would other drivers think if they saw a performance car passing a marked vehicle! I knew better than to argue but did point out that his speedo was probably the same level of accuracy as mine but I was checking my GPS reading and that it was showing 70 ish. He interestingly pointed out that the police were under instruction NOT to ticket people for doing less than 79 as a general rule by the home office but I was taking the mickey.

But seriously giving a bad impression to other road users?! Surely if he is doing less than the legal limit, even slightly, then it shouldn't matter!

Still fair play didn't get a ticket and as he pointed out he could have given me one for my number plate. Glad I stopped.... was sooo tempting to dissapear! As much as I think the whole thing was BS I must say he was actually the nicest most polite copper I've encountered! Just rattles me that do the police really have little to do?!

[M5 Mark]

y2blade said:

M5 Mark said:

P
Still fair play didn't get a ticket and as he pointed out he could have given me one for my number plate. Glad I stopped.... was sooo tempting to dissapear! As much as I think the whole thing was BS I must say he was actually the nicest most polite copper I've encountered! Just rattles me that do the police really have little to do?!

what was wrong with your numberplate?

Just 1 digit moved slightly, so a spacing issue.

As I say the guy was very polite and no issues over him not ticketing me for the plate. Just curious behind the thinking of the whole thing. The only thing I can possibly imagine is that he had a few mins left before shift finish and decided to use them... The only other possibility is he had some sort of god complex and didn't want to be passed, BUT I don't think he was that sort of person he very reasonable in everything he said and did EXCEPT the pulling me over bit.

[M5 Mark]

14-7 said:

I think Annies hit the nail on the head with the fact that if a fully marked police car is travelling at spot on the limit then by overtaking them is asking to be stopped really as it may appear that by doing so you think you don't have to pay attention to the law or (as many seem to comment about police officers attitudes) you are being disrespectful by doing so.

I would agree with that. But I was doing more than 2 or 3 mph than he was and my GPS was reading 71-72 so I doubt he was doing more than 67-68, I understand his speedo might have been reading 70 but again surely what is the point for these few mph?

I'm not having a go at the police here, as I said he was very polite and professional in his aproach. We all KNOW that if I had attempted to have this conversation with him at the road side his whole attitude would change and the nod agree method is the only aproach when pulled over. I just don;t see the point in the whole pulling stopping someone.


I also think "Vipers" has a point that I hadn't even considered in that pulling us both on to the hard shoulder could be an additional hazard that could be avoided.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm having a go, I'm not, I simply trying to understand the whole point of what to me was pointless. We have all passed police cars at 75 before with no problem at all. Will it stop me driving at 71mph past a marked car? No? Why should I be forced to travel below the speed limit for no other reason than fear of being stopped?

Edited by M5 Mark on Friday 7th May 11:44

[M5 Mark]

Mr_annie_vxr said:

havoc said:

Waste of time. Regardless of the technicality of your 'offence', or the 'appearance' of it to another road user, 72 on an M-way should in no way be an issue unless there are severe meteo conditions or unless the average speed is <50mph (i.e. your overtake is way too quick vs the vehicles you're passing). The copper should have known all of that and left alone!

I'd suggest he was either bored or had too big an impression of himself.

Or the OP had been gaining on the officer at a greater speed but only passed at 70 odd,

The OP was also committing another offence that made him stand out.

For the two offences he got a pull and polite chat.

The OP has not stated what speed the officer said he was doing.

Patrol speeds are anything between 60-90 mph.


The officer is polite and explains why he stopped the OP and applied discretion, yet still gets vilified.

He may as well have just stuck the OP on for his number plate and called the OP a rude name and been obnoxious as he would have got just as much stick.

I've had similar with ambler gamblers who have gone through when they shouldn't have but not by large margins. I've stopped them and had a quick chat more for the impression it gives to the public who were there, i.e I am not ignoring it.

Does that make me think I'm God ?

He joined the M3 as I was coming to the junction, so there was no coming up behind him at a much higher speed. I did state the marked car must have been doing around 5mph less than me so was clearly under the limit.

I've stated several times I did not think the officer was out of order, I was simply curious about the reasoning behind this. It was not my intention to create an "US vs THEM" thread but it appears there is a clear line of thought here between the posters who are obviosuly coppers and those who are not. I think that is a shame. It's a shame the BiB here clearly think black and white and jump to defend their colleague. I see less of a PH spirit in this section, from BiB and public then any other forum section. I think the whole thing is a shame. Mr_annie_vxR you are ofcourse right, 71mph IS an offence, but I really think your black and white view of this is exactly what gives the police a bad name. Not the officer stopping me, he couldn't have been nicer about it and had a lot less attitude than you are giving me. My whole point is what was the thinking behind it. Mr_annie_vxR is simply giving me a negative impression that I didn't have before this thread! If your attitude is actually the thinking behind why I was stopped then I find myself drawing the conclusion that maybe some police are narrow minded.

Once again apologies my intention was not to have a go at the police or create a division between public and police.

[M5 Mark]

Mr_annie_vxr said:

M5 Mark said:

Mr_annie_vxr said:

havoc said:

Waste of time. Regardless of the technicality of your 'offence', or the 'appearance' of it to another road user, 72 on an M-way should in no way be an issue unless there are severe meteo conditions or unless the average speed is <50mph (i.e. your overtake is way too quick vs the vehicles you're passing). The copper should have known all of that and left alone!

I'd suggest he was either bored or had too big an impression of himself.

Or the OP had been gaining on the officer at a greater speed but only passed at 70 odd,

The OP was also committing another offence that made him stand out.

For the two offences he got a pull and polite chat.

The OP has not stated what speed the officer said he was doing.

Patrol speeds are anything between 60-90 mph.


The officer is polite and explains why he stopped the OP and applied discretion, yet still gets vilified.

He may as well have just stuck the OP on for his number plate and called the OP a rude name and been obnoxious as he would have got just as much stick.

I've had similar with ambler gamblers who have gone through when they shouldn't have but not by large margins. I've stopped them and had a quick chat more for the impression it gives to the public who were there, i.e I am not ignoring it.

Does that make me think I'm God ?

He joined the M3 as I was coming to the junction, so there was no coming up behind him at a much higher speed. I did state the marked car must have been doing around 5mph less than me so was clearly under the limit.

I've stated several times I did not think the officer was out of order, I was simply curious about the reasoning behind this. It was not my intention to create an "US vs THEM" thread but it appears there is a clear line of thought here between the posters who are obviosuly coppers and those who are not. I think that is a shame. It's a shame the BiB here clearly think black and white and jump to defend their colleague. I see less of a PH spirit in this section, from BiB and public then any other forum section. I think the whole thing is a shame. Mr_annie_vxR you are ofcourse right, 71mph IS an offence, but I really think your black and white view of this is exactly what gives the police a bad name. Not the officer stopping me, he couldn't have been nicer about it and had a lot less attitude than you are giving me. My whole point is what was the thinking behind it. Mr_annie_vxR is simply giving me a negative impression that I didn't have before this thread! If your attitude is actually the thinking behind why I was stopped then I find myself drawing the conclusion that maybe some police are narrow minded.

Once again apologies my intention was not to have a go at the police or create a division between public and police.

Right.

Since you have decided to highlight myself.

What attitude am I giving you exactly?

My comments where nothing more than observations to explain what the officers reasoning was as to why you got pulled. I thought that was why you came on here? Otherwise why did you post? I then answered other peoples posts, yet you are now claim I'm "giving you attitude"


From asking people why he pulled you over you have then decided to attack me based on my observations of his thought process and declare that I give a bad impression of the police due to my black and white views of the law.

Since we are clearly in the bounds of drawing conclusions. I conclude you were doing a damn site more than 70 before he pulled you, no doubt slowing down as he came down the slip road. No-one drives at 70-71 on the motorway. You then overtook him and had a misplaced number plate. You attracted his attention.

Me, I've let people off with warnings at 130. I would never give a ticket for less than 90, indeed probably not for less than a 100.

You've created a division about officers jumping to defend their colleague and the for the record I think you will find that actually very few of the posters you think are police officers actually are. No-one has defended him other than to explain the possible reasons for the pull in the first place. Since when did his actions (of letting you off two offences by your own admission) and him being nothing but polite require defending?

You clearly have no interest in the thought process (which has been explained) as when its mentioned you start accusing people of having an 'attitude' when they are offering their thoughts about what happened.

I wouldn't have even pulled you over.

Edited by Mr_annie_vxr on Friday 7th May 18:54

You make a fair point, I was just asking for the thought process and you gave me that. Taken on baord. Maybe I was unfair in highlighting your comments, wasn;t my intention to single anyone out. You;re right I asked what people were thinking and you told me, fair enough I should accept that, thanks for sharing I guess

I guess you've already touched on the strangest thing of the event. I may have been doing quite a bit more than 70 maybe only 10mins prior to this, was actually running on fumes and reading 1 mile less than the range to the petrol station so 70 seemed sensible. It genuinely is strange to me that at the time I was actually only doing 70ish and this should happen.

As for the plate, I do around 35k a year and not once been stopped once for it. Maybe I should be greatful for that rather than shocked it did happen.

Apologies for the singling you out, you gave me what I asked for, I should be man enough to accept people have different opinions, so genuinely where as I might not agree thanks for sharing.

[M5 Mark]

Actually the point of the post from my own persepctive to understand the thiking behind the tug.

Having listened to the posts here I agree, he obviously had nothing better to do and was being proactive. Thats what we all want to see from the police. He could have given me a ticket for the plate but didn't was very civil and polite and even commented how it was quite a bit different and nicer inside than his own marked car.

Listening to the responses here I must say I don't really object to being pulled over now. Yes it might have been a bit picky, but picky would have been giving me a ticket. Yes he said it gave a bad impression being in a powerful car, (E60 M5 he was in a 530d I assume) and no doubt wouldn;t have happened in a ford mondeo.

All being said and done I can understand what has been posted here by those that are coppers and think what the hell it was proactive, he was hardly going to be out solving a crime if hadnt wasted 2 mins of his time on me, and I think we can all agree he probably didn;t have a lot on.

Having been pulled over in the past for serious speeding offences by some right tossers, I could only hope every copper that stopped me was this nice!

THanks all for sharing points of view.