Audi A3 - Police stopping a car

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 18:16
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - Delsus

Hey guys, just looking for a bit of advice, on Sunday I was driving to work at 4.30am and I got pulled over, they police said "because of the time I'm going to have to ask you to do a quick breath test".

I hadn't done anything else and was within the speed limit when they pulled me over, so I complied and it came out as zero, so they let me on my way and thought nothing more of it.

Now almost a week later I got told by someone I trust that someone phoned the police and told them I would be drink driving.

Now to my questions, if the police have received intelligence, would I be within my rights to ask that? (obviously not asking for names because it's supposed to be anonymous) and if they said they haven't it was just a routine stop, is driving to work at 4.30am really reason to suspect I'm drink driving and can they actually stop me if I'm doing nothing wrong or would they need reason to suspect me of drink driving?

Thanks for any help you can be.

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 18:31
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - focussed

The UK police can stop you at any time and require you to take a breath test if they "think you have been drinking"

and other reasons.

www.gov.uk/stopped-by-police-while-driving-your-ri...s

Here in France and most of europe they can stop anybody anytime and make you take a breath test for no reason.

Edited by focussed on 14/01/2017 at 18:34

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 18:39
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - Delsus

I saw that one and I just wanted to clarify, because if they hadn't been given intelligence it doesn't seem like a reason "to think that I have been drinking" just driving to work at that time however if they had been told something then it would. I'll see what happens tomorrow at the same time. If anything happens then I'll comply but be asking questions, because I aren't going to be happy if they decide to stop me every Sunday morning. Also if they had recieved bad intelligence surely they should be doing something about the informant wasting police time as well.

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 18:43
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - Auristocrat

If the 'informant' was anonymous, what action could the police take?

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 18:43
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - RobJP

If they stared regularly stopping you, then you'd be well within your rights to start kicking up a fuss - basically speaking to someone senior (never get on the backs of the officers doing the stop, they've been told to), and pointing out that their 'intelligence' is obviously faulty, and someone appears to be wasting police time - which is a criminal offence. As such, you'd like something done about it, and you want them to take it to the proffessionasl standards body, and for you to be kept advised. If they were reluctanct to do so, give them the choice of doing it that way or an official complaint. They hate the paperwork !

EDIT : do note. if they started REGULARLY stopping you. Every week for a month or more, time to kick off

Edited by RobJP on 14/01/2017 at 18:45

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 18:40
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - RT

Suspicion is difficult, if not impossible, to define - and suspicion is all they need.

When it's on our side, we're all grateful for an old-fashioned "copper's nose", call it a hunch if you like.

I think all law-abiding citizens accept that occasionally being checked out when nothing is wrong is a small price to pay for all the hunches that are correct.

It might be more productive for you to think about who dislikes you enough to make a malicious call.

Edited by RT on 14/01/2017 at 18:42

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 18:52
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - Delsus

Thanks for your replies, I'll see what happens, and yeah I aren't too annoyed at the one stop, but after hearing that someone informed them is what's starting to annoy me, but I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens over the next few weeks.

Also if someone makes an anonymous call the police can easily find out who made the call through phone records. Unless it was from a phone box.

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 22:03
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - Graham567

"Unless it was from a phone box."

Whats one of them? :-)

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 22:06
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - 520i

To clarify, is one entitled to enquire as to the reason a police officer has stopped you? I presume so. I once had a 'routine stop', which I understand is essentially nonsense as there is no such thing, and I suspect was far more likely to be because I was driving a bit of a shed at the time - but why not just say that?!

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Sat 14 Jan 2017 22:15
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - ExA35Owner

To clarify, is one entitled to enquire as to the reason a police officer has stopped you? I presume so. I once had a 'routine stop', which I understand is essentially nonsense as there is no such thing, and I suspect was far more likely to be because I was driving a bit of a shed at the time - but why not just say that?!

I'm sure you can ask. You might not get a reply that helped. You might fail the "attitude test" and might find all sorts of checks carried out which might take a long time. Way back in the 1970s a friend failed the attitude test - been speeding but police didn't follow him for far enough to record his speed, then proceeded to be rude to the officers. They spent a long time checking his car and finally booked him for tyre offences - inflated to the 2-up pressure but he had 5 on board so pressures too low.

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Sun 15 Jan 2017 08:25
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - RT

To clarify, is one entitled to enquire as to the reason a police officer has stopped you? I presume so. I once had a 'routine stop', which I understand is essentially nonsense as there is no such thing, and I suspect was far more likely to be because I was driving a bit of a shed at the time - but why not just say that?!

It's quicker not to ask !!

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Sun 15 Jan 2017 09:10
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - sandy56

Some years ago I was stopped on my way home from work, at about 6:30pm, for a breath test. I was immediately suspicious and asked them if someone had called about this. They told me they had received a call and were acting on it. I passed the breath test and went on my way. The Police were polite, as was I, and they were quite helpful but wouldnt give a name.

It appears someone I know was after revenge for getting a warning at work.

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Sun 15 Jan 2017 10:42
Audi A3 - Police stopping a car - craig-pd130

As said above, see if it happens again. As Ian Fleming put it in 'Goldfinger', once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time is enemy action.

In your case, if it happens a second time, I would actually point out to the police that you start work early, and ask why you've been stopped twice in a relatively short space of time.

In my teenage motorcycling years (1982 - 85) I could rely on being pulled over by the police for no reason whatsoever around once per month.

They never said I was speeding, or had any lights out: they always asked 1) if the bike was mine and taxed / MOT'd, and 2) if I'd been drinking (they always asked me to take off my helmet and stood close to try and catch a whiff of beer-breath).

After a couple of these stops, I started carrying my license, insurance and MOT certificate in my jacket, to save me the trouble of getting a 'producer' (remember those?) and having to visit the local cop shop within 5 days.

Mercifully, instant checks on vehicle license / MOT status seems to have put a stop to this charade.

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