Unmarked Old Bill

Well done on spotting the buggers, I hope that niggled them all day.

I'm not anti police by any means but what you described is just so typical of the anti-bike attitude the majority of traffic plolice have that I've come across, with precious few exceptions! When do you see them going to those lengths with car drivers. Seldom. The whole situation you described sounded pathetic and ridiculous in terms of how the police handled it, or didn't. What a piss taking joke. I'm just so sick of this sort of typical harrassment and it's really putting me off biking through fear of essentially being stitched up. Sounds like the hopeless fools you came across were complete jobsworth cretins. God it pisses me off! I also had a run in with a similar ***** about 2 weeks ago.

I had some old biddy report me for, and I qoute, racing and doing laps at 120mph round a roundabout...right...? (Impressive eyesight for an old'un to get my plate under the circumstances don't you think?) Basically a mate on his fireblade and me on my RSV met up in a layby next to small complex of roundabouts halfway between where we live, swapped bikes (as he'd never ridden an RSV, or a twin for that matter, and I'd never ridden a fireblade) and we went round the roundabout twice each on each others bikes. At no point did we race, exceed the speed limit or do anything remotely dangerous or break any laws whatsoever. We weren't even on the roundabout together or at the same time! We then pulled up in the same layby and chatted for about 25 minutes about each others bikes, (I didn't really like his Fireblade but he loved the RSV) which I would imagine have made reading our number plates much easier with us not moving and all. Not exactly racing is it. We then road off and left end of story.

Anyway the fuzz rocked up a few days later and started reading the riot act and spouting ******** about how we were going up there at everyday at 4pm and racing around with illegal exhausts etc...To which I essentially said what the hell are you talking about??? They ranted on about how they were going to seize my bike under section 59 of the road traffic act and crush it etc etc. What a load of crap. I told them to prove it as it couldn't possibly be true and they knew it. He actually became quite aggressive and starting threatening me with various empty threats which was as irritating as it was pathetic when you HAVE to listen to it because he thinks he's Judge Dread.

Anyway from this enriching encounter it would appear that the dimented old fool that reported my mate and I just babbled a load of old crap that the moronic cop bought hook, line and sinker as it was obviously easier than say doing some police work and finding out the truth. Long story short they did bugger all, what a shock, and it turned out a white KTM RC8 did a couple of laps at about 70 (it's a 60 limit) and me and my white RSV took the rap. If indeed there was a rap to take. A lone RC8 at 10mph over the limit hardly constitutes a 120mph race in my book but I suppose if plod has the I.Q of an old flip flop then it's almost certainly considered to be a cast iron case and no doubt warrants many tens of thousands of pounds of tax payers money to see it through the courts where by I would recieve a ridiculous custodial sentence! :mad1 :banghead :angry

I needed that. I feel much better now. :doug

Rage Rider said:

I needed that. I feel much better now. :doug

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Funny read RR :biggrin

Jobsworth coppers do the force no favors really, ive been pulled once before. Fortunately it was on a busy road and the traffic lights changed green, he sent me on my way by screaming "Your an *****" or something to that effect and winding his window up. I still dont know what I actually did wrong to this day.

Very sneaky indeed!!!

Ive personally never been stopped by a unmarked police vehicle, however i have spotted a few while riding and even walking on the side of the road. In my experience they are mostly in BMW's around my way and most of them are Brand new, there are also a small fleat of police motorcycles though these are marked.

I came across the info below a while back, i hope it makes good reading, i found it interesting and its all true!

The Unmarked Police Vehicle's, the facts!

-No hubcaps. To reduce the risk of third-party damage during high speed pursuits. Mainly CID cars, most of the pursuit cars now have alloy wheels.

-Odd lumps. The video camera if used is usually suspended under the inside rear-view mirror, and sometime also in the rear of the car by the side pillar.

-Two people. Most unmarked cars seem to be staffed by pairs of policemen and women. In today's environment of single-occupant cars, this can be quite noticeable. They also have to be in uniform, and quite often wear fluorescent clothing.

-Extra lights on the tailgate, behind the radiator or on the parcel shelf.

-Two rear-view mirrors. They often have a second inside rear-view mirror for the second officer.

-A large illuminated sign in the rear window, sometimes with lights at each end. This is the not quite the width of the parcel shelf and its about 200mm tall (i.e. a long, flat box). This is used to pass on messages to drivers like "POLICE STOP", "SLOW DOWN", "DO NOT PASS" etc...

-Other things that stand out. Very clean and well kept, quite often seen sitting at 60mph in the inside lane looking for it's next target, No dealer stickers, in fact a total lack of stickers in most cases. Single whip Aerial on the roof or rear wing

-Tricks they try. Some have been known to use hanging objects to hide the video camera, using the "Boy Racer style of car". Placing stickers on the cars to try to blend in.

-Typical vehicles they use. Ford Mondeo 24v, Volvo estates T5, Vectra V6, Citroen AX (Laser Car, Kent police), Ford Galaxy, Saab 95, Vauxhall Omega V6, Motorbikes are also being used and these are very hard to spot, but one give-away is that they stand out as being better bikers on new clean machines with add ons such as heavy side panniers to protect the video and radio equipment.

Police Motorbikes

-Wearing a white helmet

-Always wearing full black leathers

-Always a hi-visability belt or waist coat ( normally the belt with single diagonal across one shoulder front and back ).
therefore if you see a large capacity motorcycle, white helmet, black jacket and hi-vis belt slow down.

-Dead giveaway from rear is panniers or boxes and three aerials that look like black felt pens, these bikes are given the very latest in technology and will have you without stopping you if they feel inclined to do so, be aware, be very aware!

-If you see the above combination on a new big sports bike he won't have boxes just a little tail pack

And remember to always smile for you mum on television. :devious

:thumbup

Seve said:

My point is, they aint all bad!

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An undoubtedly fair point.

You're obviously right as I know they're not all bad and the fact I was in desperate need of a rant meant that common sense, rationality and not making sweeping generalisations nipped out of the equation for 5 minutes.

Anyway I'm better now so hopefully I will be a bit more circumspect and balanced in future. However with that said I still maintain that while some definitely aren't prats I genuinely feel a significant number are jobsworths who've been given conviction targets by their superiors as a matter of policy and are only too happy to follow the absolute letter of the law no matter how ridiculous. A Tape measure for the letters on the plate? Oh please. I mean if you need a tape measure to be sure then I'm guessing the world won't end immediately and it can't be that bad. If it's a tiny illegal plate with tiny writing etc then a £30 fine is fair enough, I have no issue with that but I do an issue with someone just being a bloody minded c***!

My situation was irritating but what Mick Oliver described was just a bit over the top in my opinion. I think it's entirley right and proper for cops to highlight any issues like the one's mentioned in Mick's post but why not just give a 7 day producer to make sure said issues have been taken care of rather than getting all anal and heavy handed and chucking fines about etc.

I know a couple of guys who are traffic cops, both are decent guys but one's a jobsworth the other isn't. I guess it just comes down to people being people rather than us and them at the end of the day. Although I think it's fair to say that a reasonable number of people become coppers because of the whole authority figure power (trip) thing and I suppose it says alot about them as people that they wanted to do that job in the first place. With that said many people obviously join the police force for a host other entirely legitmate and even noble reasons but as with so many situations it only takes a few to ruin it for everybody else.

Mick Oliver said:

They also tried to do us for tyres below the one mm and his guage was down to 0.01 and we were close but he did not know what he was doing but did not push the point.

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Sorry if I'm picking you up the wrong way but are you saying some of you were riding with tyres at or very close to the legal minimum tread depth?. :confused :dunno

Ah, I see.

So where is the tread measured (legally) ?????

thanks mick, so just to confirm, can have no tread on the middle but legal tread on the sides?????