Driving home, not speeding on a deserted A road last night. Noticed car headlights catching up fast, thought it was a boy racer, pulled into left, and was followed a bit then Blue flashing lights appeared in the rear view mirror.

They got me out of my car, into the back seat of the patrol car, checked my details and sent me on my way.

What was that all about? Have they nothing better to do?

You’d wandered across the border into the US by mistake?

Don’t they have to give you a reason for stopping you???

no reason at all

Are you black or brown?

My grandad used to get stopped all the time when driving to work on a back road fairly early in the morning.

A lot of car thefts take place at night (as do other crimes). Not many people are driving about at night. So, a larger percentage of cars on the road at night will be stolen or involved in another crime. So it makes sense to randomly stop cars at night.

Why didn’t you ask why you were stopped? I would have been interested to know why.

I did ask, after everything was in order, they just said they thought it was unusual to see a car on that stretch of road at that time of night. 11pm 3 miles from the Forth Road Bridge. They said it would be worthwhile cleaning my number plate as I got out of the patrol car.

Every time I’ve been stopped I’ve always been asked if I know why they stopped me (it’s tempting to say something smart like “give us a clue” or “don’t you know?”) but there has always been a good reason for it – usually cos I’ve been driving like a twonk.

is your car modified or on the most nicked list?

they just said they thought it was unusual to see a car on that stretch of road at that time of night. 11pm 3 miles from the Forth Road Bridge

Then why were they there?

I thought that the police had to have a good reason to pull you over, not just some petty hunch? I would complain personally (but then they would probably make your life unbearable)…

Its your own fault for owning a Buggati Veyron 😆

And 11pm is hardly late FFS

they were acting within their power. the reason given was probably about right, most likely to be a purely speculative routine stop check. that is what the police do and sometimes they get a result doing stuff like that. at that particlar time, no they probably didn’t have anything better to do so they went looking for something.

I was stopped for no other reason than “we thought you were someone else”.

“Every time I’ve been stopped I’ve always been asked if I know why they stopped me (it’s tempting to say something smart like “give us a clue” or “don’t you know?”)”

Do you no why i’ve stopped you sir?
If you said speed for instance the beak would generally view that as a admission of guilt.

When in fact, how could you know the reasons behind the officers actions?

I was stopped for no other reason than “we thought you were someone else”.

Jean Charles de Menezes?

They said it would be worthwhile cleaning my number plate as I got out of the patrol car.

Well there’s the answer then. Thread closed.

I once encountered two coppers, a bloke and a woman, sharing a quite little cuddle, on the canal once. Almost ran them over! It was pretty dark down there, and I doubt they thought anyone else would be down there in the dark.

I thought it was quite sweet.

my first car was a volvo 440 (sh*tbox i called her). I used to get pulled a lot reason they always gave was ‘don’t see many young lads with old volvos’ so my car is shit and to rub it in you pull me over to tell me it’s not cool enough for most of my peers! cheers lads!

neverfastenuff – Member
Its your own fault for owning a Buggati Veyron

They wouldn’t have sat him in the back seat of the patrol car, they would both have been jammed in the passenger seat fiddling with knobs!

Wiksey – Member
Every time I’ve been stopped I’ve always been asked if I know why they stopped me (it’s tempting to say something smart like “give us a clue” or “don’t you know?”) but there has always been a good reason for it – usually cos I’ve been driving like a twonk.

Standard training, I’ve been there, I kept saying I didn’t and he kept saying “you must know” in the end I said we could go on like this foreverer so he whipped out his fixed penalty book and gave me a ticket for going through a red light! It was only just Amber! I told him I wouldn’t accept it so he took me to court and I was let off something I didn’t do in the first place! Good use of taxpayers money! (Poo, my money!!!)

police pay taxes too … we pay our own wages as well .. which i find a bit of a paradox, but hey 😛

I’d say that was reasonable enough. Routine/random stops can lead to quite a lot of things found. I wouldn’t say that its a case of targeting folk , just that some things ( cars, people, movement, actions, whatever ) catch your eye and you act on it. I find that if I have to think about something i’ve just seen, then i’ll go and have a closer look. Could turn out to be nothing, could turn out to be quite a lot.

sometimes I don’t mind being pulled over. I once left work a bit early (2am finish, and I left at 0150) and got plled over cos I left the car park a bit quick. Police knew we finished on the hour and thought it was a bit odd to see a car leaving early. I’d rather be pulled over than have them wave at the guy stealing my car!

Mind you, I once got pulled over “cos you should be in school!” I did try explaining, that by having a valid driving license I was probably older than 16… but hten I got told off for being cocky.

>3 miles from the Forth Road Bridge.<

Security’s clearly being stepped up in the Middle East 🙂

We should have the system they have in the US where this would constitute an illegal search – just another example of the erosion of our civil liberties.

a friend got pulled over for driving erratically, and asked when he had last had a drink, his answer of ‘Feb 23th 1984’ (he’s t-total) ensured that his whole car got searched very throughly 🙂

there was no mention of a search.

Act like an idiot and they’ll treat you accordingly.

Several times I’ve been asked why I was stopped, and my stock response of “genuinely, I don’t know, but it’s most likely to be speed” doesn’t seem to wind anyone up.

I hate the fact, but in this situation the police have ALL the power……swallow hard, don’t rise to the occasion, and you’re away all the quicker.

“I hate the fact, but in this situation the police have ALL the power”

excuse me?

The last time I checked the UK’s Police are Public Servants, not the government’s private army.

If you are acting within the law and causing no nuisance or manage to others then the Police should treat you with respect and courtesy.

If they have suspicions then they should voice them.

I do not subscribe to the “Nanny State” or the “its for your protection citizen” impressions that people have of our Police Forces and I also think that for the most part they do a difficult and often thankless job.

No Bugatti I’m afraid. A ’96 Citroen XM, with dead central locking. I doubt if any self respecting car thief would ever consider pinching it, unless it was for a dare. On the plus side, I was thankfull I wasnt doing 90.

Oh and I wasnt wearing a baseball cap. I’m not sure if that is offence once you cross the FRB after dark.

MrNutt, you’re completely right technically, but when you’re standing at the roadside and the police officer has the option to give you points/fine or to let you go, who d’you think really has the power?

I was stopped on the way back from a football match last month (Celtic v Villareal) at the roundabout by the new Kincardine Bridge. Similar circumstances – after 11pm, quiet roads. Difference was there were two patrol cars and they seemed to be flagging down every second vehicle. They asked my name and address and checked the car out (holding a torch in the prescribed cop manner, like the way Norman Bates would wield a knife). I asked why they’d stopped me and was met with the stock, stoney-faced response “Routine check”.

Parting words from them were “You might want to clean your number plates”

I’m not bothered about being stopped as I try to keep my car in good order and would rather they drove about as opposed to just sitting in one spot with a radar trap?

Though like thombthumb I used to have an old persons car Rover 414 (WeeMobile) and got stopped several times in Chester and asked “is this your car?” in that’s slightly astonished tone :/

Having said that years ago I did get stopped for a defective tail light (no problem with that) but the officer then did himself no favours by blurting out…
“If you hadn’t been behind that bus you would have been speeding”!!! I think he realised what a stupid thing he had just said when my girlfriend started laughing out loud at him.

they tend to stop older cars, as its pretty easy to nick an old car (which more than likely won’t have a factory immobilizer etc) compared to newer ones.

40,000 miles/year
Not been stopped for the last 20 years

What am I doing wrong? – getting older, I suppose

Where I work there’s often not a lot going on at night, so rather than do nothing for 9 hours we usually check a few cars. We can sit behind a car and check who it’s registered to, if it’s been reported stolen, if it’s insured, and who is insured to drive it. We can’t tell who is driving it, if they are one of the insured drivers, and if they have a licence or are disqualified. To do that we have to stop the car, speak to the driver and do a quick check over the radio. It doesn’t take long. Some people drive without insurance, some drive without a licence, some are disqualified and carry on driving because they don’t care, some are pissed. We now sieze cars from people who are driving without insurance or without a licence. Most people see this as a good thing. This is how the police catch these people.

I always explain to people what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and I make it clear to them that being stopped does not mean they have done something wrong. Most people don’t have a problem with it and they understand why we do it. I understand why some people don’t enjoy being stopped by the police, and we all know that there are some complete nobs in the police, but there always will be. I get paid to do a job, so I go and do it, and stopping and checking cars is part of it. I would be quite happy to sit in the warm station all night reading my book, but I suspect all those people who so graciously ‘pay my wages’ might not approve?

mcmoonter – I don’t know why you were stopped, but the police can stop any vehicle, which is sometimes on a hunch, and often at (for want of a better word) random, and on most occasions everything is just fine. I doubt it was anything personal.

When I had a cheap old car (in good condition) and was driving that about I got stopped left right and bloody centre, about 5 times in 2 years,(4 door peugeot 205).

I bought a loud, obnoxious, agressively styled sporty car with enough power to give the cop cars (but not the helicopter!) more than a run for their money and haven’t been stopped once, same routes, same length of time, higher average speed, more noise on average etc, same age of car.

I think as aracer said, the answer was your plate was dirty, they couldnt tell who you were from a distance and probably thought you were someone else or just looked a little sus. Its no problem, it means that next time your car is pinched, the police might spot it. At least you didnt get told “you approached that junction too quickly, I’m going to go over your car with a fine tooth comb and book you if you don’t stop claiming you didn’t”. (It was a 15 yard long dead end and I’d had to do a 3 point turn in it already, can hardly get up a great speed!

Everyone gets the chance to pass the attitude test, and a fair few folk fail it miserably, then wonder why an officers attitude and tact changes to deal with it. You’d be surprised how many folk take umbridge to a civil approach to speak to them and come out with all sorts of machismo pish, and if they do, wonder why it gets challenged very quickly. Then they’ll be off to the boozer to moan to their mates about it.

I’ll always try to be civil to people to begin with, and take it from there. I’m not one that subscribes to having an unnecessary go at folk and give them a brow beating for the sake of it, but i wont put up with gobsh!te either.

thegreatape, I have to say the officers were courteous, and almost apologetic after their detail search revealled everything was in order. I was very mellow about the whole thing, just a little surpised that I was asked to get into the patrol car.

Policing is a tricky thing. I was once stopped for being just over the speed limit driving into Peebles after night riding at Glentress. Leaving Glentress, I was aware that a car was following me (but unaware that it was a Police car) when I came across a mountainbiker riding back into Peebles with no rear lights. I indicated and gave plenty of warning of the vulnerable rider, something The Policeman said he’d probably have unaware of had I been any other driver. He checked my details and would have been well within his rights to charge me, but let me off. Seems he’d ridden with Crawford Carrick Anderson.

mcmoonter – mellow is the way to be, sounds like they were just doing their job. Don’t read anything into being asked to sit in the back of the car. It’s usually just easier – lighter/warmer/drier/safer/quieter.