Driving too close - Police

[kimbowbill]

Last week i was at a crossroads waiting to turn right, to my left there was a police van waiting to turn left, basically heading the way i was coming from, anyway, i made my turn, driving along i noticed the police van had changed their mind and was now behind me, i was doing 20 mph over speed bumps, they were that close i could smell the paint, so i stopped, got out and asked them why they were driving so close to me, two officers looked at me gone out and said they were doing checks on my vehicle, i still didn't think that driving as close as that was acceptable and asked for the drivers number, when i got home i called the local police and reported him, since then, i have been stopped twice, they say for routine checks, i've nothing to be worried about as all is in order and i never drink n drive, i feel this is intimidation, any advise what i should do,

 

[oldish hippy]

just feel safe in the knowledge that should your van ever get stolen it will be looked at more closely if your van is legal then have no fears just let them get on with it and they soon get tired of stopping you avery five mins

 

[kimbowbill]

just feel safe in the knowledge that should your van ever get stolen it will be looked at more closely if your van is legal then have no fears just let them get on with it and they soon get tired of stopping you avery five mins

Ya know what? never looked at it that way, yeah, your right, its just the major inconvenience as it makes me late for my jobs during the day,

 

[Firefox]

Either ignore it, or if it continues, take it to the police complaints. I would ignore it though, and they will probably go away after a while. Some of the rozzers are a right old corrupt vindictive bunch, so you won't necessarily get quick justice if you take it further, as you have found already, so best to leave it as it was a minor matter anyway.

 

[Northerner]

Last week i was at a crossroads waiting to turn right, to my left there was a police van waiting to turn left, basically heading the way i was coming from, anyway, i made my turn, driving along i noticed the police van had changed their mind and was now behind me, i was doing 20 mph over speed bumps, they were that close i could smell the paint, so i stopped, got out and asked them why they were driving so close to me, two officers looked at me gone out and said they were doing checks on my vehicle, i still didn't think that driving as close as that was acceptable and asked for the drivers number, when i got home i called the local police and reported him, since then, i have been stopped twice, they say for routine checks, i've nothing to be worried about as all is in order and i never drink n drive, i feel this is intimidation, any advise what i should do,

Where the officers who have since stopped you the same ones who were in the van being driven too closely? If they were different policemen then I don't think for a minute that you are being targeted and it's just coincidence that you've been stopped twice. The police regularly mount exercises where they check for stolen or uninsured vehicles and it's possible that there is a purge going on in your area at present.

I can assure you that no policeman would issue a directive to his colleagues to deliberately harass a motorist just because he or she has annoyed them on a previous occasion. Such an action would be illegal and result in him losing his job and no one is going to take the risk of another officer objecting to the harassment and reporting it to his superiors. If, on the other hand, it is the same officers stopping you then it's too much of a coincidence and you should report it to the local station where it will go onto the record. But I'll be very surprised if it turns out to be the same people. In my long experience of dealing with the police I have found them to be polite and very proper and I find it hard to believe that any officer would take such a huge risk with his career over a trivial incident such as the one you mention. They'd probably forgotten all about it an hour later.

 

[Deleted member 3802]

:ditto::yeahthat: i have to agree on this the police are so monitored now they wouldn't risk it

 

[Deleted member 21686]

You must just look dodgy kimbo!

 

[Deleted member 3802]

she's been told time and time again about wearing shell suits and the cap on backwards :scared::lol-053:and haveing acab tatooed across her knuckels was plain daft

 

[oldish hippy]

You must just look dodgy kimbo!

and they had read the forum and just think she escaped from her padded cell so they keeping a eye on her as they dont want to lose whilst they prepare thier case lol

 

[fairytooth]

I would make a note of the exact time of each stop and officers' numbers just to keep handy for future reference if needed.

Also, if it does happen again, seek a genuine explanation why you have been stopped by these different officers when you haven't done anything wrong.

And the next time, if there is one, demand to see the duty inspector to make a complaint.

 

[BrianG]

I really do not intend to upset anybody but I do feel, in this case, a need to say " get on with life". The only thing that happens in these cases is that your stress levels go up for nothing. Chill out.

 

[Bigpeetee]

About 30 years a go, I was driving to work at about 6.30am one cold February morning. It was a 40 limit but in the country so I was doing about 45 or so as were most vehicles, suddenly there were blue flashing lights behind me.

Pulled over and PC got out, notebook at the ready. When I protested about just going with the flow, his answer was "The law is the law for everyone" and promptly gave me a ticket.

The very next morning I was stationary at a set of temporary traffic lights, to my right down a side road were two police cars, the exhausts smoking in the frosty air. Looking closer I could see two police officers in the front car and none in the rear. I pulled over having recognised my "friend" from yesterday.

I knocked on the drivers window and when opened I enquired who was the driver of the other police car, it was my "friend" of course.
I insisted that the first police officer book the other for leaving a car unattended with the engine running, which is of course illegal.

They protested, and I repeated to my friend his words "The law is the law for everyone", reminding him that's what he had told me!!

The euphoria of getting one back over the police was soon clouded by the thought " Oh sh*t, what have I done"

In work a call to the traffic officer in charge explaining what happened and that if I got targeted I would be straight on to the TV & Papers etc.

Result, my speeding ticket was forgotten if I didn't make a fuss. I was happy as I couldn't really afford the fine or points!!

Alternatively, if they were so close and you slammed your brakes on to miss the dog that ran out in front of you, they would have been in the wrong and the "Whiplash claim" would have gone a long way to getting a better MH to help you recover????

 

[Mr 99g]

Corrupt police

Your absolutely right kimbo , your vehicle has now been' flagged' , which means that when it passes a device it advises the police to pull you because there may be suspicious occupants ! They will have covered themselves buy reporting your 'suspicious behaviour' . Don't bother going in to the police station local to the incident .write a letter to the chief constable of the county and demand a reply within 14 days or a official complaint through the police complaints authority ( yet more police investigating themselves !! ) will be instigated. Contary to what other members have written, the police still contain a large amount of corrupt and vindictive officers and there superiors support this. It takes balls to do what you did and I salute you sir !! Now protect yourself before your fitted up .

 

[Sparks]

Post Deleted

 

[Northerner]

Contary to what other members have written, the police still contain a large amount of corrupt and vindictive officers and there superiors support this. It takes balls to do what you did and I salute you sir !! Now protect yourself before your fitted up .

And you know this how? I wonder if PC Ian Dibell was vindictive and corrupt? He's the one who's has just been shot and killed in Essex as he rushed to protect his neighbours who also faced being murdered.

The police have never been under such close scrutiny and the days are gone when a nod and a wink with your mate who was a bobby could get a speeding ticket quashed. Some people really ought to stop living in the past and letting their dislike of the police overrule their common sense!

Before jumping to ridiculous conclusions the OP should ask herself if it couldn't be just a coincidence as the police may be having a crackdown on uninsured and unroadworthy vehicles. There was a similar policy in my area not long ago when the police set up number plate recognition cameras and were pulling over a large number of vehicles and I presume, stopping others to check their credentials. It lasted several days and dozens of untaxed and uninsured vehicles were confiscated. Needless to say such vehicles have no MOTs and often have dodgy tyres and other defects.

Bit I say the same again. If these officers have lodged a false report about her activities, which result in her being classified as suspicious, they are in great danger of losing their jobs. One man I know was dismissed from the police for looking up a number plate on the PNC, simply to help a friend trace someone who'd damaged his car. Officers simply cannot get away with anything like this these days.

 

[Viktor]

Do nothing at all kimbo other than keep a record of when and where and the registration of the police vehicle involved along with the officers numbers.

If it starts to happen regularily only then make a complaint.

 

[sean rua]

Maybe the word is out that Kimbo has received too many "likes" on the forum?

In general, the police and the militia work to orders. They get told from " on high" who to target and what to do.
Sometimes, as in riot situations, they deviate from strict accordance to the plan, but this is basically because, under that uniform, they are still human beings.

Their usual game, based on scoring enough "points" and "merit marks" to allow their superiors to justify the expenditure claims submitted to the councils and government agencies ( who dole out the tax-payers' money)
is to target soft options as much as possible.

I hope this helps to explain what goes on. It will seldom appear in the press - for obvious reasons.

Btw, the more I read on here, the more I become convinced that Northener is a magistrate or JP. If I'm correct about that, I'm sure he's a very good one.


sean rua.

 

[Northerner]

Btw, the more I read on here, the more I become convinced that Northener is a magistrate or JP. If I'm correct about that, I'm sure he's a very good one.

sean rua.

Bloody hell, you've managed to bring me into one of your posts again! Sorry, can't oblige. I'm not a JP, never have been and wouldn't want to be. It would annoy me intensely having to hand out today's soft sentences to people I'd want to throw in jail for ever. What I am though is someone who is passionate about fairness and I think that automatically claiming that many police officers are corrupt and vindictive is a gross libel and bears no relation whatsoever to the truth.

The police must be the most closely monitored service in the country. Everything they do is caught on someone's mobile phone and the penalties for what I consider fairly mild breaches of the law are very severe. A thug can hit someone and get a caution. A police officer will lose his job and his pension and possibly go to prison. What is coming out here from some people is simply an irrational dislike of authority, a dislike which appears to make them utter these kind of untrue and unfair statements.

It will be interesting to see how many more times Kimbowbill is stopped, if ever! Let's hope that, if she isn't stopped again, it will put an end to these conspiracy theories.

 

[John H]

Not very good at recognising sarcasm are you, Northerner? :lol-053:

...and if you are so keen on fairness, why do you attack Kimbowbill when she started all this off in a very mild and reasonable way? Fairness does not mean assuming that the police are right all the time - they are human like the rest of us, which means some of them are nasty, argumentative and corrupt and some of them are decent, reasonable and honest. Fairness means applying the same rules to everybody and examining any given situation in an objective way. I obviously cannot say whether there has been anything untoward in this particular case but, similarly, you cannot say that there hasn't. So offer your opinions and advice by all means but why do you always have to do it in such a nasty and aggressive way?

 

[Ste]

Last week i was at a crossroads waiting to turn right, to my left there was a police van waiting to turn left, basically heading the way i was coming from, anyway, i made my turn, driving along i noticed the police van had changed their mind and was now behind me, i was doing 20 mph over speed bumps, they were that close i could smell the paint, so i stopped, got out and asked them why they were driving so close to me, two officers looked at me gone out and said they were doing checks on my vehicle, i still didn't think that driving as close as that was acceptable and asked for the drivers number, when i got home i called the local police and reported him, since then, i have been stopped twice, they say for routine checks, i've nothing to be worried about as all is in order and i never drink n drive, i feel this is intimidation, any advise what i should do,

I wouldn't worry about it. My car's 18 years old and I'm often stopped by the police for a random check. Just be friendly and chat with them. Their view is that older cars are often used by criminals as they can be bought cheap (or stolen due to poorer alarms), used for a 'job' as a drugs mule for example and then dumped, and they just get another one.
I'm proud of my car, she's in amazing condition, very low mileage, zero rust etc.. & she'll give many a new car a good run for there money. The cops who stop me have often commented on its condition. I'll never sell her, so I expect to be stopped several more times. Or at least until it recognised as a Classic!!