Just heard on the news today That A copper who was speeding in his fancy new unmarked car.....84mph in a 30, 110 in a 60 and a whopping 159!!!! on the motorway, got off scot frickin' free.......

Not speeding your honour, just testing how quick our new car was....

Absolute Horse Cack! I am sooo p**sed Off!!!

Discuss.......

Here's a link if interested.

Totally agree. The fact he's a trained pursuit driver seems to make it alright

On the other hand - he is trained to drive at those speeds and surely needs to practice somewhere ?

Although I do think 84 in a 30 is verging on the suicidal and can't think of any emergency when it would be neccesary to drive at that sort of speed in a residential area. Someone must have really had it in for him to report him for it though.

qualified or not the bloke should be in prison. the police are not allowed to break any speed limits, they are let off because of what they were doing.

there is a time and a place for that sort of speed and out in the public isn't it, being trained isn't an exscuse if anything they should have come down harder on him seeing as he is trained.

if your a black belt and get attacked then kick the living p1ss out of someone you get in trouble for it, because you should know better.

anyone want to start a mob against the bloke? :mad:

If I get caught driving at speed if I said "I was practicing, getting used to the car" Would they let me off....I don't think so

On the other hand - he is trained to drive at those speeds and surely needs to practice somewhere ?

Although I do think 84 in a 30 is verging on the suicidal and can't think of any emergency when it would be neccesary to drive at that sort of speed in a residential area. Someone must have really had it in for him to report him for it though.

Not all 30mph zones are residential areas.

I know of some that it would be quite easy to do 80 in without any significant risk of an accident

OK - I stand corrected

This is mad

Surely testing of cars must be done in controled conditions

Hq would know this was going on / Planned it

You would not be on your own testing a car at that speed without it being authosised

arnt the police stoped from chasing criminals is speeds become excessive or dangrous by Hq why didnt he have prior permition

If I get caught driving at speed if I said "I was practicing, getting used to the car" Would they let me off....I don't think so

Are you a trained police officer?

Are you a trained police officer?

No......But I could tell them I was

This is mad

Surely testing of cars must be done in controled conditions

Hq would know this was going on / Planned it

You would not be on your own testing a car at that speed without it being authosised

arnt the police stoped from chasing criminals is speeds become excessive or dangrous by Hq why didnt he have prior permition

Thats one of the things that will need to be clarified.

West Mercia didn't have any force policy on when and where drivers are supposed to do training runs.

regardless of training this was a totally reckless and irresposable joy ride by a copper out for kicks. i can't believe he has got away with it.

in the article it pointed out that he was trained in fire arms, does that make it ok for him to fire off rounds in public when he gets issued a new gun. its ok, he's trained you know

No......But I could tell them I was

Don't forget to log on from prison and tell us how that worked out

even if he was trained and he was 'testing' the car, he wouldnt know the limits and the handling of the car, and therfor, it was unsafe on public roads???

takes the biscuit abit dont it

deja vu anyone?

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/t28643-speeding-policeman.html

the police are not allowed to break any speed limits' date=' they are let off because of what they were doing.

[/quote']

I think you will find that they are allowed to break the speed limit.

regardless of training this was a totally reckless and irresposable joy ride by a copper out for kicks. i can't believe he has got away with it.

in the article it pointed out that he was trained in fire arms' date=' does that make it ok for him to fire off rounds in public when he gets issued a new gun. its ok, he's trained you know[/quote']

To use ones firearm out of a situation, it is required that you attend the training range and be reassesed every six months. AFAIA, there is no retraining and being reassessed once gaining the Police driving grades.

I would be very suprised if they do not do driving refreshers. We do them every 2 years.

As per the second thread on this site

* Police on-duty can break the speed limit. Without siren/flash if needed although they tend to use them for their & our safety.

* Police off-duty to the best of my knowledge is NOT allowed to break the speed limit, and is NOT allowed to use siren/flash. That said they probably wouldn't drive a police car off-duty

Training off-duty? That's just having fun, not training in official capacity.

I bet I wouldn't be let off 'honing my high-speed skills' even if I told them it would improve my skills on the road doing this at 3am...

Not impressed..

Also mentioned in the other thread - it's not about the officers who do this job breaking the speed limits, it's about off-duty officers, aka normal drivers from the law's perspective, getting away with this...

As per the second thread on this site

* Police on-duty can break the speed limit. Without siren/flash if needed although they tend to use them for their & our safety.

* Police off-duty to the best of my knowledge is NOT allowed to break the speed limit' date=' and is NOT allowed to use siren/flash. That said they probably wouldn't drive a police car off-duty

Training off-duty? That's just having fun, not training in official capacity.

I bet I wouldn't be let off 'honing my high-speed skills' even if I told them it would improve my skills on the road doing this at 3am...

Not impressed..

Also mentioned in the other thread - it's not about the officers who do this job breaking the speed limits, it's about off-duty officers, aka normal drivers from the law's perspective, getting away with this...[/quote']

Yes correct. I must say it doesn't send out a good message does it.

Yes correct. I must say it doesn't send out a good message does it.

Well, except he was actually on duty at the time.

Rob.

* Police off-duty to the best of my knowledge is NOT allowed to break the speed limit,

The legislation that gives police the power to exceed speed limits says that they can do so when to adhere to them would hinder their duty. Nowhere does it say that they have to be in uniform , at work , in a marked car , have the lights on or any of the other urban myths. [1]

If they are doing their duty , ie acting to prevent crime , then they can exceed the speed limits. If an off-duty officer witnesses a crime and needs to exceed the speed limit to do something about it then that is perfectly legal. As an example , if an off duty officer heading home sees people running from a branch of McDs that they have just robbed he would be fine to follow their getaway car at over the limit in order to get the VRM and description of the offenders.

[1] this does not prevent them from being charged with dangerous driving if they drive like an idiot or crash.

Yes i suppose there is that. I dont want to argue the toss of whether he should have been prosecuted or not as that is irrelevant now. I know that in my area that the Traffic guys are not allowed to practice their skills unless on a course, and the same goes for our FB drivers. I would say however he was lucky to get away with it.

Well' date=' except he was actually on duty at the time.

[/quote']

The speed limit and other restrictions can be exceeded when the vehicle is being used for Police Purposes. Police Purposes includes going to emergencies, and for training. There's no legal requirement to use Blues and/or Twos, they are used purely as a warning device for the public for their and the officers safety.

At the end of the day in this case it was the fault of West Mercia not having a clear policy in force whereby the officer should declare to control that they're going to do high speed training runs.

150+mph is regularly exceeded by Advanced Drivers on training runs, as part of their original training or 'ongoing' training to ensure their skills are honed. Police Advanced Drivers have undergone a lengthy original course and are highly skilled drivers who are used to driving at these very high speeds and 3am on an empty motorway is an ideal time for them to ensure their skills are honed and that the vehicle their driving has the handling and capabilities that are required for their job (and as a Firearms Officer he could well find himself on one side of the County having to respond to a life or death call on the other side of the county due to the limited number of ARVs - I know if I was at the scene of a nutter pointing a gun at me or my colleagues I'd want to know there was an ARV en route at it's best possible speed!).

Most Forces have a policy whereby the driver calls up to control to inform them of his intention to do high speed training runs when they're not busy with other work, giving them location details etc. It's then logged to the computer and the officer is authorised by control to drive - this officially makes it 'police purposes' and clears the officer of any risk of prosecution in the way this officer has been. As I say though, his force didn't have a clear policy to this effect and as such he was prosecuted and some muppet at the CPS or wherever decided that his driving was dangerous - something his driver colleagues disagreed with in court. Had a proper policy been in place for him to inform control of his intentions then he either wouldn't have been in any trouble and none of us would ever have known about it, or he'd legitimately be in trouble.

At the end of the day it's the faillure of the police force that this ever went to court, and that some people are sceptical of whether he was actually training or just doing it for kicks - given his being cleared I personally feel I've got to agree that he was doing no wrong (well, there's gotta be somebody in the UK with a bit of faith in the justice system, hasnt there? )