tinyurl.com/m4k9de (Links to the BBC News website)
Frankly, any one this stupid shouldn't really be in charge of a motor vehicle on a public highway. Would you have coughed up the readies. Honest answers only please.
Edited by rtj70 on 16/06/2009 at 12:09
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No I wouldn't, but I dare say I wouldn't have even fell for him being a real copper in the first place.
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Would I have coughed up the readies? To a guy in jeans and T shirt, with a Liverpool accent, claiming to be a copper, in Suffolk, at 3 in the morning?
Certainly not. I would have asked, through a gap in the window, from the safety of a locked car, for ID, name of the Chief Constable, whatever... Or, as mentioned in an older thread, insist on following the "police car" to the nearest police station to sort it out there.
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Let's assume you had stopped on seeing the blue light - it's 3am, probably fairly deserted, you may even suspect the 'policeman' is not what he seems - he asks you for 60 quid. You're now in a 'situation'.
You could call his bluff - but that might provoke a more insistent demand for money, it may turn nasty in some way. You're effectively being mugged here.
If I was in a situation like this, i.e. I'd stopped my car for a 'policeman' & found the situation more like a polite mugging, I'd probably pay up. If someone takes the risk of posing as a policeman, they might also take the risk of carrying a weapon & using it.
It's difficult to guess the exact situation the motorist faced, but I happen to know Brandon quite well & it's a fairly quiet & empty even in daytime. I'm not even sure it's got a police station - many villages that way don't. Who's to say the 'policeman'
wasn't a desperate crackhead willing to do anything to get a fix.
Perhaps the motorist wasn't fooled at all after the initial 'stop for a blue light' reaction & thought expediency was the better part of valour.
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Window down, ask to see ID.....if nothing produced then foot down and away.
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isnt tony martins house near here?
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This used to be quite common in Liverpool at one time, especially at night, and may well still be so.
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"The man is described as white, in his late 30s and had a Liverpool accent". Seems like the Liverpudlians are trying their luck on the east coast instead..............
I didnt think many people knew where Suffolk even was, (im from Ipswich and usually end up telling people "yes, its close to London"). Brandon would proably be the last place you would expect to find a bogus copper (or a scouser for that matter).
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Who's to say the 'policeman' wasn't a desperate crackhead willing to do anything to get a fix.
I've not seen many desperate crackheads yet go to the trouble of obtaining a Ford Mondeo and fitting it with blue lights in the front grille, just to obtain £60 by deception!
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Or was it an off duty policeman who was strapped for cash?!
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Thieving Scousers - Foreigners never understand this bit
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Do police have the power to hand out "on the spot" fines? What does that expression mean?
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Do police have the power to hand out "on the spot" fines? What does that expression mean?
It's just a term for a fixed penalty notice, they certainly don't take cash from anyone.
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As we know that in this country, the police do not collect the fines on the spot, but issue a notice - so therfore if you know this you can be very sure that you are been "mugged" when this situation happens.
I wonder, would this thing be more apparrent in countries ie France, where you do have to pay the police on the spot if you committ a offence?
Who would ask police in these countries while under pressure for a form of ID, and just take what they see as gospel?
Edited by redviper on 16/06/2009 at 16:23
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I got stopped by the Police in the Czech Republic many years ago and was fined... I did pay up, but only after going through our Czech/English dicationary to find out why... but I have to say that a marked car, police carrying guns... and the fine only amounting to £8 made the decision easy!
I'd like to say that I wouldn't have done in the OP's scenario... but without being in that situation I'm not sure how i would have reacted...
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I have paid a fixed penalty notice on the spot, in cash. Saved some paperwork.
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FT - not in this country surely? Unless this was maybe the 60s or something?
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I have paid a fixed penalty notice on the spot in cash. Saved some paperwork.
If it was in this country it was either a bogus cop or a bent one.
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I wonder what the evidence is that this actually happened?
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. Saved some paperwork.
What? Transferring the points? ;)
p
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I hope you got a concession on the amount, FT, in return for your collusion in a criminal act?
When I was in Prague for a week a few years ago I got two of b308's on-the-spot compulsory bribes for nothing in particular. They see your foreign registration as a short row of hard currency signs. Unless you have a very smart and tough local in the car it's the simplest thing to do. A bit like Lagos late at night when the man with the machine gun asks you none too suavely what you are going to give him. Only a tenner after all.
It's probably gone up to twenty by now though.
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Going back to the original story, the police spokesman said that a policeman in an unmarked car would always show his warrant card first - that certainly is NOT what is shown on the various TV shows.
I have a company car, and our Chief Security Officer (an ex Chief Super) advised us to use our cars as battering rams if we had to escape from situations like this, and to always keep a mobile ready to dial 999. His view was - if the cop is for real, he will shout to you through closed window and must by law allow you to drive to a manned police station. If he doesn't give the option, then.................
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IIRC if the Constable is not in uniform then he has no right to stop you, warrant card/ blue lights or not.
When did you see a traffic policeman in plain clothes?
Legal eagles to confirm??
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battering rams - you'd have to be very sure of your facts to do this, using disproportionate force would find you being nicked potentially.
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>>>>our Chief Security Officer (an ex Chief Super) - battering rams <<<<<
maybe he came from Ashes to Ashes stock - and hence the 'ex' ;)
In 1984 it was probably regarded a proportionate.
p
Edited by pmh2 on 17/06/2009 at 09:31
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"When I was in Prague for a week a few years ago I got two of b308's on-the-spot compulsory bribes for nothing in particular. They see your foreign registration as a short row of hard currency signs."
I find the opposite to be true these days Lud. Polish police tend to ignore me. The last two check points I got caught in, they didn't even want to see my paper work. I certainly wouldn't pay a bribe - if you have done something wrong - smile, be polite, take the ticket, drive off and throw it in the bin.
Never drive without your papers though. They detained an English friend of mine for a couple of hours for waiting in the drop-off zone at Warsaw airport in a rental car - he didn't have his passport with him.
I never carry cash anyway. Every morning when I take the kids to school my wife gives me a couple of zlots for baps and milk. Fake coppers and muggers who target me will be out of luck.
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Edited by Dynamic Dave on 19/06/2009 at 01:55
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This driver wasn't fined for speeding.
He was fined £60 for being stupid!
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This driver wasn't fined for speeding. He was fined £60 for being stupid!
He gave £60 to a stranger, but he wasn't fined!
Edited by L'escargot on 18/06/2009 at 10:14
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