While I would never normally contemplate stopping anyone for reasons mentioned above, besides it is simply not my job to do so, I can think of a few extreme circumstances where I might just contemplate such action. įinally, getting back to the original topic, as many of you know I work for the Fire Service and have a blue light I can fit on the roof of my car. ", I'd imagine most normal, law abiding citizens would be completely unaware of any such 'tell-tale signs', I'm thinking of people like my mother or sisters who don't go around having involvement with the police, have probably never, ever been stopped and wouldn't give it a thought. Oh and as for " plain Traffic Cars - they know you know what sort of cars they use and they know there are little tell-tale signs that you are only likely to notice once you are too close. and could be mistaken for cops by the clueless ) of course it would be wise to at least phone the police and report the 'incident '. This raises an interesting legal point regarding the requirement to stop for an unmarked car displaying a blue light : unless the occupants draw alongside and show a warrant card ( which varies from force to force, so an 'out of towner' might not recognise it as such ), or overtake and then use a 'police stop' sign in their back window, you could quite reasonably state in any defence you did not realise it was a police car or that you thought they might be impostors up to no good and felt for your own safety that it would be unwise to stop ( there was a case in our area a couple of years ago where two men impersonating police officers in a grey Mercedes fitted with blue lights behind the grille were going around stopping lone women and lecturing them about their driving, the men were wearing white shirts, black ties etc.
#UNDERCOVER POLICE CARS DRIVERS#
Practically speaking, if the Ambulance Staff were doing something responsible (ie not just stopping the Corsa because Corsa drivers annoy them), then I can't see the Cops having any great issue with it (other than to advise against on safety grounds).įurther to that, Ambulance Staff may not be issued with the kind of protective equipment and training the Cops have, so they would be advised against their action - stopping vehicles is one of the more dangerous things Cops do.Īnd just to add to the legal pudding - A Police Officer in uniform can stop another vehicle even if they are in their own private car, "off duty" (there is no such thing in law, Cops are always "on duty" for the purpose of legal powers), a Cop not in uniform has no power to stop another vehicle (hence the urban myth that they need to wear their hat - they don't, they just need to be wearing the right uniform, which could be black polo shirts for example). The (again pretty unlikely) possible scenario where there would be a legal power, would be if a police Officer instructed the Ambulance Staff to stop the other car, in which case it would be a lawful stop.
#UNDERCOVER POLICE CARS DRIVER#
If what you saw was a member of Ambulance Staff making use of their Blue Lights to stop another vehicle, then the other driver had no requirement in law to stop (so would not commit any offence of failing to stop), the Ambulance Staff had no power in law to do it, so (in theory at least) could be prosecuted for impersonating a Police Officer (pretty unlikely I would have thought, but if you tried it, expect to get prosecuted.!). Reported vehicle a Police Officer is driving makes no difference as to the legal power to stop another vehicle - any Police Officer in uniform has the power to stop another vehicle. M62, Brighouse – driver tailgated and flashed their headlights at our unmarked car in the outside lane before undertaking us. The tweet prompted some questions from the public concerning the police car’s positioning on the motorway. West Yorkshire Police tweeted: “M62, Brighouse – driver tailgated and flashed their headlights at our unmarked car in the outside lane before undertaking us.
The driver didn’t expect the undercover car to illuminate with lights of its own when police decided to pull the offending vehicle over onto the hard shoulder of the M62. A motorist in Yorkshire has been booked for tailgating and flashing their headlights before undertaking an unmarked police car.
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