Seen on Ceefax today Page 146
Traffic stops a driver for speeding.
He says " Just left the airport have we? Well Biggles, you are not in your Spitfire now"
Then he realises the driver is the Metrolitan Police Commissioner.
No mention of what happened next!!!!!!!!1
|
|
I think traffic cops must have a manual with all those little sarcastic funnies in it. Best I got was "Good morning Wing Commander, having a little trouble retracting the undercarraige, are we?"
|
|
|
There's an even funnier cop spouting in today's Mail that cars 'should be limited to 70mph..'
It's that idiotic Brunstrom (?) bloke again. This is the kind of idiotic idea we get from the police these days. God help us.
|
|
|
|
Ah yes, North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom. Apparently when it was pointed out to him that his own Merc has a top speed of 140mph, he claimed he always drives with the cruise control set at the legal limit. Riiiight. Let's hope he gets pulled by one of his own officers for doing a ton on the motorway, a la Jack Straw and his chauffeur.
|
He said "My Mercedes has a top speed of 140 mph, which is ridiculous"
Wonder why he bought it then. It's his own car, not the force motor provided!
|
|
|
|
"I think traffic cops must have a manual with all those little sarcastic funnies in it. Best I got was "Good morning Wing Commander, having a little trouble retracting the undercarraige, are we?""
Senna was stopped with the line "Think we're Ayrton Senna do we, sir?".
And I've got a, sadly late, friend who got "Having trouble achieving take off are we, flight leuitenant?". He was a Pilot Officer in the RAF.
|
|
|
|
I swear I put the 'i' in the right place in Lieutenant and it moved itself.
|
|
|
|
I would regard that kind of lip from a public servant as offensive. I famously remember my father once being rudely told by a police superintendent that he was wrongly parked. Dad listened then put on his military accent and said "Just a moment Officer. You are I believe a public servant, indirectly employed by me. You will therefore address me as 'sir'. Nows then, what was your question again?" Pomposity neatly pricked, I thought!
|
|
|
|
Trus story, the Chief Constable in an East Anglian force was pulled over by one of his own traffic a few years ago. To his credit, he he told the cop to do his duty, so the bemused officer did. No doubt the traffic guy sat with his head in his hands a hour later in the canteen wondering where his career would now go........
|
|
|
|
In my book nothing these nice (I have to say on this site, it seems) people have to say is funny.
|
|
|
I have been pulled over in Florida, Tennessee, California, Germany and Spain to name a few. In each case I have been in the wrong and have been treated with nothing but (albeit firm and authoritative) courtesy. I especially liked Tennessee, where twice I received a gentle lecture which the cop had clearly been trained to give, but left me with my self-respect and a determination not to do whatever it was again. I would have thought THAT was excellent traffic policing.
Yes I know I was a tourist. But I cannot see any cause for "smart" remarks by UK cops, that can only reinforce the negative attitude so many motorist have to them, as well as being downright offensive. I think if I experienced that I would report it.
|
report it to who ?
report it to local supervisory officers is a waste of time (too many promoted way too soon, with no real leadership experience)
and the PCA is a Quango that can only takeo n complaints if the force in question "accepts" there is a case to be heard - you'd be surprized how many seriois cases the force in question refuses to accept this
PCA is not an open/fair review in any sense
and the "closed shop" mentality encouraged by the police federation normally comes down pretty early on, unless you can actually get a copper convicted in court - but on the whole they withhold the evidence against their own
So in summary you are left with pressure groups like the ABD and the press
|
|
|
|
Oh dear! A few raw nerves here, although I have to agree with the Growler in respect of the psychological significance of being left with "self-respect and a determination not to do whatever it was again" - but for how long? Must be that Must-ang ....
The first time I was stopped for speeding was by a New South Wales motor cycle patrol who told me that he didn't like having to do 90 mph to catch anyone, least of all a Pommy pink fluffy dice , but I got off with a warning after venturing the opinion that we Scots, although possibly deserving of many other rude epithets, are *not* Poms.
However, more seriously, and before we get too hurt about their opening remarks and so far as these putdowns are concerned, should we not get some sort of perspective, and remember two things in particular? Firstly, these guys have to deal with the horrific end results of other people's (possible speed-related) accidents in a depth that most of us we don't have to, God willing. In a previous existence, I had to make the official identification of quite a lot of bodies (or what was left of them) following accidents, and I can tell you that a visit to the mortuary is as nothing compared with scraping bodies off the tarmac like they have to do. Secondly, and just as quite a few of us here seem quite to like one-upping what someone else has said in a particular post, isn't it just possible that our friends with the blue flashing lights feel that, in what is to then a straightforward speeding case, they can allow themselves a little bit of latitude, oh all right - competition, in the remarks they use as a form of conversational icebreaker to gauge who they are dealing with? Whatever happened to the British sense of humour ....?
Ronnie
|
|
|
|
Sorry squire. "Poms" doesn't just refer to Englishmen but to "Port of Melbourne" where deportees were originally landed. So that could ahev been your forebears and all the others.
|
|
|
