Your suspicions are totally unfounded as I now have a totally clean driving license points wise and also a driving license with no past driving offence form to declare at the magistrates court (not the same thing as just having no points on a license as it takes an unbroken run of no driving offences for 5 years to completely clear them off one's record for sentencing purposes at the magistrates court rather than the four to clear down points for speeding). There have of course been a few close shaves in this time with suddenly spotting yellow boxes on unfamiliar roads at the last moment (especially the A2 in to London and Limehouse link tunnel both ways) but a very heavy application of the brakes has saved the day and/or the cameras may have run out of film.
My own attitude to ordinary coppers is determined by no less than four bad experiences in 25 years driving of driving (19 of them in 2 seat sports cars) of power crazed traffic cops who have been on a jealousy persecution trip against sports car drivers. The last of these was last Christmas Eve around 7.30pm on my way over to my mother's house. I entered the M25 at Junction 9 Leatherhead en route to M25 Junction 15 and half a mile later came across a huge logjam of cars stuck behind two marked Police cars about 400 yards apart. The second of these two Police cars was probably travelling at about 68mph and I passed it slowly with no problem but when I reached the second travelling about 68mph to 71mph after playing the no passing game for about 2 miles I got really sick of this nonsense and so attempted to crawl past at about 74mph well within the ACPO speed limit +10% + 2mph tolerance. Whereupon as I just began to inch past the Police car it speeded up to 75mph.
I momentarily tried accelerating more but then thought better of the entrapment that was clearly taking place so hit my brakes to fall in behind the Police car. Wherupon flashing blue lights immediately went on. I was so incensed at this rolling blockade of the motorway by a Police car for no reason that I asked why I had been stopped and if the Policeman didn't realise that having a huge bunching of traffic that could not pass him might cause a major pile up. Whereupon I was subjected to some dirge about if he had his way the limit would be 50mph on the M25 all the time and it was only because he was a firearms cop rather than the traffic cop he used to be that he wasn't going to issue a speeding ticket. Highly significant I think was the fact that this Policeman's partner never got out of the marked Police car which suggests to me that he thought his partner was in fact behaving like a stupid little prick. I thought of making a formal complaint but unfortunately with the Police they always close ranks.
I have also been stopped by a Police car coming off Hyde Park Corner when I saw him the marked car pull in behind me and went at no more than 30mph for the next mile and a half whereupon he stopped me and incredibly accused me of speeding. When I said I knew this wasnt' true I was then accused of being on drugs and when I asked for their PC numbers it was then suggested that a charge of dangerous driving against me would be arranged if I dared to make any formal complaint. I did complain the next day to a local Police Inspector but as my father was Parliamentary Adviser to the Police Federation at the time it just wasn't going to be worth causing him embarassment by pursuing the complaint.
So while I am sure there are some very good Policemen who track down murderers and burglars to protect ordinary citizens one can't get away from the fact that the personality of quite a few Policmen tends to be that of the small minded dictator who enjoys petty rule enforcement against others for its own sake. And no I don't put driving 10mph or 15mph over the speed limit in the same category of criminal offence as murder, whatever loony political claptrap our friends at BRAKE and elsewhere may try to come up with.
~Edit by bbb_uk: Title amended
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Ofcom Consults on 101 Police Number & Call Costs (Read 103,672 times)
