I got followed!

[AdamW]

Thought about putting this in General Chat, but I guess it is car related (plus I like to spread my posts around!)

I was driving in Luton yesterday afternoon. An unfamiliar town to me, so I had the GPS going to direct me to a party. It told me to turn right at some traffic lights. Some dilly-dallier was in front of me at the lights, seemed to have less of a clue than me and was just crawling forwards at 2mph. Turned out he was doing a u-turn on a "NO U-TURN" junction.

So, to signify that he was a silly man for wasting valuable seconds of my time I gave a quick toot on the horn. In the excitement (I was bemused at the colourful language coming out of my friend's mouth, beside me) I didn't notice it was a rather funny-shaped junction and ended up taking a rather scenic route.

The police car behind me happened to notice this erratic fashion, and since they were now in front of me (it was an "interesting" route I took round the junction) they pulled over, let me past and then followed me for the next mile. Presumably my manoeuvre had the hallmarks of a drunk driver/joy-rider, and they were checking that it was just a slip-up, to see if I would bolt or what have you. Good thing too, and I had nothing to fear if they had stopped me (other than a telling-off for not getting the junction right).

What I am wondering, and perhaps Thermo can shed some light on this: are they trained to drive at a fixed distance behind a suspect car? Only the police car stayed a fixed distance behind me no matter what speed I drove. I even tried driving quite slowly (20mph in a 40mph limit) and there he was, a clear 50 yards behind me with no intention of gaining on me.

 

[breezer]

so you you were in my part of the world then, why didnt you say hello

 

[AdamW]

I was too busy being chased by the fuzz

 

[nstreet]

At least you weren't picked up by the fuzz... Ouch!! makes my eyes water just thinking about it

 

[petewood]

are they trained to drive at a fixed distance behind a suspect car? Only the police car stayed a fixed distance behind me no matter what speed I drove. I even tried driving quite slowly (20mph in a 40mph limit) and there he was, a clear 50 yards behind me with no intention of gaining on me.

You should have tried reversing, that would have tested them!

 

[PowerTool]

Could have been

A) Clocking your speed
B) Stalling for time while doing PNC vehicle check

And there is a minimum distance at which an accident involving a car being followed/pursued by a police car becomes a PolAcc (Police Accident) and has to be investigated by an Inspector - not sure,but think about 500 metres

 

[AdamW]

You should have tried reversing, that would have tested them!

At a red light where he got right up to me again I thought it could be a laugh to boot it away from the lights (only up to 30mph though) to see what would happen... Or even steering back and forth like F1 cars on the parade lap. That way if he stopped and asked "ello ello ello, whats all this then?" I could say "I'm warming up my tyres to make a quick getaway!"

However, I'm glad I didn't try these things as it turned out to be a rather good party and it would have been a shame to spend it in a police cell

Good to see there are police cars out looking for naughty people, no automatic camera would have picked up my Vic Reeves-style manoeuvre.

 

[petewood]

When I was at college my mate and I both had 100cc motorbikes. One night he came in and told me that he had just pulled away a bit quick from a red light and a copper in a patrol car had stopped him."Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?" he had asked.

I know that if it had been me that had been asked this question I would NOT have been able to resist pointing out the shortage of wheels.

 

[PowerTool]

Mate of mine got stopped speeding in his wagon on the A19 some years ago - by a sarky copper

"Having a bit of trouble finding the end of the runway today,are we sir ?"

 

[AdamW]

Would a policeman have nothing to say if he pulled over Michael Schumacher speeding towards a Guy Fawkes' celebration?

Even if he tried to be ironic by asking "Who do you think you are, Michael Schumacher?" or "Where's the fire?" then Schumacher's stern Teutonic seriousness would force him to answer either "Ja, das ist mein name" or "Die fire ist over das, ACHTUNG!"

Just think of the comments you could make if you pulled over Gary Glitter speeding in the proximity of a school...