Where's a policeman when you want one?

[barrym]

Just popping into town this afternoon, a narrow'ish road, cars can pass, but not with a bike there too.

A stream of traffic coming towards me, and I can hear stuff behind so I move out a little to stop anyone trying to squeeze through. It worked as I could hear the blipping throttle of a noisy diesel unhappily staying behind.

As the oncoming traffic cleared a small removal van passed too close for my liking. Not dangerous, but inconsiderate. Close enough for me to shake my fist a shout an expletive! Waste of time really as those drivers don't use rear view mirrors do they?

Anyway, a mile or so up the road the van was stopped and someone was at the driver's door talking to the driver. Blimey, it was a policeman!

I stopped and said you want to have a word with him about giving space to cyclists. The policeman answered that he had been behind when the van passed and that's why he had stopped him.

Who'd have thought it possible eh?

Made my day.

[mercalia]

the only time to see the cops is either when they are hurrying home for tea and blasting their sirens in their copmobiles or picking up a shoplifter at Lidls - most seem rather fat and short, they need to be put on beat duty to get rid of the dumplings I think

[landsurfer]

In South Yorkshire we seem to have mostly <30, fit police..
One suspects that as a result of the horrors of Hillsborough and Rotherham there has been a cull .........
But they still have not been briefed on opening car doors .......

[Elizabethsdad]

You didn't notice the police car which must presumably have passed you shortly after the van then?

[drossall]

Years ago, a car went through a zebra I was walking across, I think quite deliberately. A little further up the hill, I passed him, after the police car behind him had pulled him over. The policeman just grinned at me as I walked past. I got the strong impression that the result would be less a booking, that a talking to, deliberately drawn out to dwarf the time saved by nipping through "my" Zebra

[barrym]

You didn't notice the police car which must presumably have passed you shortly after the van then?

Forgot to mention it was a plain Volvo. No blues visible when I got there so no idea how he stopped the van.

[Elizabethsdad]

You didn't notice the police car which must presumably have passed you shortly after the van then?

Forgot to mention it was a plain Volvo. No blues visible when I got there so no idea how he stopped the van.

I think the police have 'plain clothes' traffic cars where the only blue lights are behind the front grill

[gbnz]

I think the police have 'plain clothes' traffic cars where the only blue lights are behind the front grill

They do. Though it'd be more effective if the unmarked, grey Skoda, Octivia's weren't kept parked on the forecourt of the local station.

[Tangled Metal]

Used to be white Sierra sapphire cars when i was a kid. Ppl knew it too. Meant my dad could travel on the motorway and dual carriageways quickly in his car. Everyone mistook it for an upmarked police car i suspect.

Was fun seeing cars speed up to us, adult the white Sierra and brake hard to drop in behind. My dad used to deliberately sit in the middle lane at just under 70mph just to watch this i think. Before that car he'd have been one of the speeding cars.

[661-Pete]

I think the police have 'plain clothes' traffic cars where the only blue lights are behind the front grill

Yes - or on the rear window sill.

I recall once cycling into town, seeing ahead a policeman talking to a driver in a car parked on my left. As I approached the conversation ended and the policeman crossed over to his own car. Then the other driver started up and started to pull out straight into my path. I was going slowly, partly because my brakes weren't up to scratch (or rather they were, literally - one set almost worn down to the metal - mea culpa). Anyway I managed to stop just before hitting him, making a great deal of noise in the process. Next thing, the copper runs back to the erring driver, shouting "What do you think I've been telling you all this time?" I didn't loiter to hear the rest of the resumed 'friendly chat'.

Luckily, that copper didn't pull me up to question me about my brakes.... I changed the blocks as soon as I got home.

[foxyrider]

I think the police have 'plain clothes' traffic cars where the only blue lights are behind the front grill

Yes - or on the rear window sill.

I recall once cycling into town, seeing ahead a policeman talking to a driver in a car parked on my left. As I approached the conversation ended and the policeman crossed over to his own car. Then the other driver started up and started to pull out straight into my path. I was going slowly, partly because my brakes weren't up to scratch (or rather they were, literally - one set almost worn down to the metal - mea culpa). Anyway I managed to stop just before hitting him, making a great deal of noise in the process. Next thing, the copper runs back to the erring driver, shouting "What do you think I've been telling you all this time?" I didn't loiter to hear the rest of the resumed 'friendly chat'.

Luckily, that copper didn't pull me up to question me about my brakes.... I changed the blocks as soon as I got home.

AFAIK having noisy brakes is not an offence - annoying yes!

[661-Pete]

AFAIK having noisy brakes is not an offence - annoying yes!

No. But having ineffective brakes is...

[barrym]

...... Everyone mistook it for an unmarked police car i suspect.....

I had BMW R80RT, white, back in the 1980s. Had the same effect. [emoji23]

[Tangled Metal]

I bet you weren't benefiting from impersonating a police officer to cut through traffic neither!

[barrym]

I bet you weren't benefiting from impersonating a police officer to cut through traffic neither!

Who me? Definitely not[emoji6]