The TV Mini Mehga thread.

[ogden]

I've not seen that vid before.

He doesn't take too kindly to 30 and 40 limits, does he? I'm hardly captain slow but even I draw the line at doing 90 through Hurst Green.

It'd be rude not to nail it past Lamberhurst though.

That video is ridiculous, the police rider goes on for 10 minutes riding just as dangerously as the first rider when he could have read his plate and then just nicked him via the post for the first 10 offences. And has the cheek to say the first rider nearly had a head-on with the other biker when it was the copper who nearly did! No excue for that kind of reckless policework.

[ogden]

The cop did a few truly dodgy overtakes there too. But I guess the problem was that if the bloke tried to do a runner there wouldn't be much he could do there to stop him.

And he was riding like a complete idiot, though no faster on the out-of-town bits than I've done up the A21 in the past. In the car.

Originally Posted by ogden

The cop did a few truly dodgy overtakes there too. But I guess the problem was that if the bloke tried to do a runner there wouldn't be much he could do there to stop him.

And he was riding like a complete idiot, though no faster on the out-of-town bits than I've done up the A21 in the past. In the car.

The cop on the bike can't stop him, and doesn't try. They have his plate, just look him up through the DVLA. If they truly wanted to stop him doing a runner, then there would be loads of chatter of reporting where he was, getting a chopper out, setting up road blocks. As it is, the copper just calmly follows him reporting his mistakes, probably enjoying the ride. I can guarantee that over the stretch of that there were probably over 100 cars that though "what a ****" as the unmarked copper went past, how is that a good idea?!

Originally Posted by walkaboutandy

I promise i'll make it up to you when i come back from my holiday!

This was entrapment I believe. The police motorcyclist was used to force the situation. The biker had been reported of dangerous driving several times over a period of time. This was an evidence gathering exercise and used the unmarked police bike to goad the biker into similar actions of past riding. It had the desired effect but I still think it was wrong of the police to employ such tactics. They encouraged the biker to ride like he did. I believe the biker assumed it was just another biker who wanted to have a game of cat and mouse. They could have simply deployed a helicopter and video the events from above. They obviously knew with another bike behind playing 'keep up' they would get maximum out of the situation. Disgraceful methods as far as I'm concerned. I wonder how much worse it would have been for the biker if the police rider had been involved in an accident during that 'chase'.

Originally Posted by Stig_Of_The_Dump

...

Using unmarked bikes seems to be becoming much more common. Sussex Police are certainly keen on it and round us there are signs along several A roads warning of unmarked bike patrols.

I've not watched the video link yet and I'm not for one minute suggesting that the Sussex lot are out there goading anyone - in fact there are a lot of morons worth catching on the routes in question - but I guess it's just worth remembering not to get tempted into 'playing' with someone you don't know.

Originally Posted by eviltwin

but I guess it's just worth remembering not to get tempted into 'playing' with someone you don't know.

I never do. Same as driving down the road and seeing lights come from behind (car or bike). I'll check my speed and if I have found mistakenly I have drifted over the legal speed limit, I'll ensure I am back within it.

I'm not saying this chap did not deserve to be trapped or that police using entrapment is wrong. I just don't think the way they did it was correct. They obviously set the whole thing up knowing he would be encouraged to ride that way with another motorcycle in his mirrors. You could even say they enticed him to ride possibly more recklessly than he would normally have. They put too many other people at risk and danger just to get the footage they wanted to prosecute him.

Anyone got a different link for that video? It's blocked at work as adult content.

Without even watching the link, I think I probably agree with you on this one, by the sounds of things.