Mondo

Hi from a fellow Scot.

I'm with Dave and Gizmo on this one... not good at all !!! Reminds me of the rather horrid Honda Civic Jordan. As for the inserts being colour matched to the body colour, I can't see this working with any other vRS colour either. Possibly silver, but then you'd be as well keep it as standard as it would have a similar look. Black would kinda defeat the purpose. MHO only.

I can see how this would look but I doubt if the cop was abusing his "blues". It was more than likely a graded call which fell just below the emergency response criteria but that the officer still needed to get through traffic quickly and safely. I've done this many times and I must admit, it goes through my mind that people probably thing the same as you. Consider this though ... we're more often than not so busy, that being able to chill out sitting in a queue of traffic can actually be quite a luxuary. As far as being against the law, Police are excempt from the legislation governing red traffic lights. We are of course accountable however and must be able to justify our actions. If we cause an accident by going through a red light, we are just as liable to face prosecution as anyone else.

First time I've seen this thread and I think it's great. I'm assuming Steve is from Englandshire whereas I am in the "Job" a little further North in Bonnie Scotland. Road traffic law is fairly universal all over the UK and as such I am not about to tred on Steve's toes as he's clearly doing a sterling job. That said, Scot's (common) law is fundamentaly different from quite a lot of English (statutory) Law and if anyone has a query of Scot's Law I'd be only too happy to see if I can assist. I haven't read through all the thread and I dare say other Scott's Cops may well have offered their services already, but as someone in the thread has already identified, opinions differ. (And there's always the chance of a health debate if they do).

How many lifelines did England throw away?? Scotland lost out on Saturday bacause they had a shocking first ten minutes and were robbed at the end by an incompetant ref. But what passion!!! England just lost!! Fair and square. No passion and full of themselves. As a Scot, I take no pleasure in seeing England go out but quite frankly ... they deserved to.

One more here. I picked up my shiny new petrol Octy II vRS estate in race blue on thursday. I work in Inverurie and live closeby. BTW - there is a street in Kintore with 3 vRS's ... one blue, one silver and one black.

I can see where you're coming from and sympathise totally. But it is not the case that the Police aren't interested. I spend vast amounts of my time carrying out enquiries in the full knowledge that the courts won't take proceedings once I write the case. Sometimes (far too often) we have to ignore seemingly petty stuff (although not petty to the person who reports it) because we quite simply do not have the resources to deal with it and even when we do, the courts certainly don't. There are far to many desk jockeys in the Police now who justify their existence by making up all new w4nk speak to impress the bosses who, in turn, plagiarise said w4nk speak as their own and get their next step up the corporate ladder. Please believe one thing - the cop who you see with a uniform on whether it be on the street (unlikely) or in a car, will be the hardest working, most stressed and most sh4t upon cop you are likely to meet. He / she is dedicated to their job and probably loves it. (Though I sometimes can't imagine why) Else they would join the ranks of the ever increasing number of work shy pen pushing desk jockeys who are the ones who are really responsible for the state the Police service is currently in. Don't alienate us. When you really need us, we'll be there for you.

Don't know what experience you have of Police Call Centres but I gather you've got cause to not think much of the one covering your area. IMHO the exact opposite is more likely. Everything that comes into our call centre is logged and heavily audited. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sticking up for them, mine is a pain in the proverbial. A fair chunk of the calls I'm sent to could have been dealt with over the phone if a Cop had answered instead of a civilian who creates jobs because they don't want top risk making the wrong decision. I agree that something needs to be done about the woman who can't park although this in itself does not make someone a bad driver. The girl I regularly work with can handle a car at high speed as well as many of the others I work with but she can't park for toffee (perhaps not quite as bad as the subject of this thread) It's very likely that after being informed, staff would have checked the driver's credentials and found them to be in order. Civilian staff will not routinely update an informant as to the results of an inquiry due to possible infringements of the Data Protection Act. I personally, would call the informant back out of courtesy and give them some kind of update which would make it clear what the outcome was without breaking D.P laws. As far as striking other cars in concerned, this of course should be reported straight away if it is suspected that the driver won't report it themmselves.

Can't speak for any other force but if mine were to receive such a complaint, we would be obliged (under local fiscal guidelines) to make enquiry. This would involve sending two officers out to require the registered keeper of the car to tell us who was driving at the time the photo was taken. (Same as when you get flashed by a speed camera and the notice of intended prosecution comes through your door). Once the driver is identified, he / she would have to be interviewed as to his / her actions. The most likely outcome would be a formal warning but in theory they could be served a conditional offer in lieu of prosecution. (Max £60 and 3 points). If the driver refused to accept the conditional offer they would be charged and cited for court. At this point it would be thrown out as there is no way to prove when and where the image was taken and any charge specifics would not be competent. Result - a whole load of wasted tax payer’s money. The driver of the Civic's time will come. For now, just be glad he doesn't know his reg has been posted on the internet for all to see. How many times do we all see people skipping through red lights and driving whilst using mobiles etc etc... ? Not right, but we can't go telling tales on them all the time. I'm not condoning the Civic driver's actions but we've all done things we shouldn't do. I sympathise with this particular cause but don't think reporting this matter to Police would do anything to help.

Forgot to add the obligatory Discos, Rangies and Defenders in our 4x4 fleet. Defender = best fun you can have in the woods with your clothes on.

Grampian: Response cars - Mainly Ford Focus diesel - absolutely useless. Sew Astras left but getting phased out. Petrol Wasters (Traffic) Still a couple of Omegas that haven't died yet. Volvo T's, Mondeos with body kits (AKA X Type Jags) and a couple of Scooby Doo Imprezas. Standard Vans - Transits. Support Unit vans - Mercedes Sprinters. More comfy to sit in than the transit but absolutely awful to drive. Quite happy to do 110mph in the transit but anything more than 80mph in the Merc scares the brown stuff out of me. Barely pushes 90mph in full whack anyhow. Dog Unit - Mainly Focus estates and a couple of Peugeot Boxers. Tested the Octy mkI 1.8T 4x4 (150 bhp) a few years ago but they didn't get them cos they were told it was too fast. Wouldn't want Fido to get car sick would we? Bikes - AFAIK quite a mixture but I saw a load of BMWs in the garage a few weeks ago. Don't know if they were for testing or if we've bought them. Bosses Cars - BMW 535, Jag XJ, Audi A6 ... go figure.

Your dealer may well be telling the truth but that's pretty much what mine said a couple of years ago when I asked abouty the Octy II vRS. And what do you know, a few months later, launch details were made public. He was trying to sell me a "standard Octy and it was in his interest to put me off waiting for the vRS. Don't wish to tar your dealer with the same brush though ... I just hope he's wrong.

That would be my ideal too! My local dealers say they wouldn't like to tackle it but does anyone know any one (in Scotland please) who can?

4 15 20 25 26 31 32 35 43 46 47 48 49 53 54 64

I'll be the proud owner of an Octy II Vrs by mid Nov (all going well) and would love a Bluetooth Kit. I know how to work a screwdriver but I don't mind admitting that the thought of taking my new toy to bits scares the pants off me. Live up in Aberdeenshire so can't even bribe any of you Southeners with a fist full of tenners to fit one for me :( Looks like a parrot for me. Alternitive would be a sat nav box with BlueTooth. Anyone have any opinions on any of these. I'd want one with European maps. Can't understand why Skud UK don't offer a factory fit BT Kit!!

I'd hunt around for a used 20d or 30d if your budget can stretch a bit. Much better kit. If not, you have no fears buying from Canon but also have a look at some of the retailers who still do used stuff. Mifsuds / Ffordes are both good.

I had a call on Thursday from Skoda Customer Services asking me about my visit to Specialist Cars. I was as constructive as possible - which was not very. They have some decent staff. Mandy in particular is nice but then I know her partner quite well so that may account for something. Attitudes far too stuck up - like the rest of the John Clark Group IMHO (and experience) Come on, sort it out!!!

I knew my lateral thinking would get me into trouble one day

Like I said, I'm not in Traffic so couldn't be a CI. Nice debating with you. Off to work now. Friday so will likely have to get into loads of nfights with drunken ar5es.

????Nope. My username should give a fairly big clue to my name. I take it you know a Cop called Dave up my neck of the woods (Aberdeen) then do you?

A Traffic Cop (one who is trained in Collision Investigation at least) would not ask someone if the victim was driving too fast. I think it's important to realise that we don't declare that an accident was caused by excessive speed but that it may have been a factor. Nobody has ever died because they have gone too fast (except perhaps when suffering from too much G force which isn't applicable here). They die because they leave the road / hit another car or whatever. And they don't do this because they are driving too fast but because they don't have time to react to an unexpected situation or do not know the physical limitations of the car they are driving. Collision Investigators are only interested in the causes of the accident - not speculation. Eye witnesses are good for advising vehicle movements prior to impact etc but there are other methods which allow for calculation of speed.

Fair point to a great degree. Although it goes beyond "collected opinions" and and is more often decided at the very least by a very large balance of probability or better still, eye witnesses. I'm not a Traffic Cop (and have no desire to be) but I'm aware of the very extensive investigation that goes into each and every fatal road collision having first hand experience of same. Again, I can only speak for my own Force.

Depends how much time you spend dodging speed cameras on the A90 / A96 I guess.

I can only speak for my own area when I say that the majority of fatal accidents where speed is a factor involve drivers local to that area and who are very familiar with the road. This declaration is based on fact, not just my opinion.

Chris, I'd be interested on your opinion on the following, It can often be heard that people are worried about driving "progressively" on roads they don't know. I think it's dangerous to think that you "know the road" I think leads to complacency and often ends in disaster. Every road should be "read" at the time it's being driven. Sure, there is nothing wrong with learning certain charecteristics of unique corners etc which may allow you to progress more quickly but other than that, if you read the road as it opens up in front of you, you will stay more alert and get more out of your drive. MHO only of course.