Baph got tugged again!

Sorry for the long post... but this time, I feel it's worth me posting about it, because it might come in handy for someone else.

Commuting on the A55, I'd called off at Mochdre on the way, so got on to the A55 at Mochdre for the Colwyn Bay concrete area, 50mph zone. As soon as I'm coming down the on-ramp, I see a panda car (not a traffic cop by the looks).

Now this is a 50mph zone, and he's doing a good 65mph. I know this because I'm sitting 4 cars behind him, we're all matching his speed (Not right I know, but hey, he can do it, so can I!)

The road opens to the 70mph zone, and he speeds up to around 90mph ish, so I do too. This continues for a good few miles. The long straights towards the Towyn turn off, he slows to just below 70mph & pulls over, so I go past at around 75-80mph, thinking nothing of it. Next thing I know, blue lights & a toot on the siren

So I pull over on to the hard shoulder & stop, engine off. One, he knows I'm not going to run, two, he can't hear the baffle-less scorpion.

"Do you know why I've stopped you sir?" Not a clue...
"Well, I was doing 70mph and you came past me." OK, so how fast was I going then? (I'm getting pretty irate by this point because of the double standards).
"That's not exactly the point, you were over the speed limit and we both know it." I think you'll find that you too were over the speed limit, 65 past Colwyn Bay in the 50 zone, and almost 90 after that.
"My speed is irrelevant, please sir, you need to calm down." (I took that as an insinuated threat) Surely those that enforce the law, have to stick to it? I mean, if you were on an emergency, fair play, but you obviously weren't. I also saw you tailgaiting a fair number of cars until they moved out of your way, and your numberplate is CX55 EXX (XX's done on purpose for this post and I told him whilst facing away from his car, without looking).
"What is that supposed to mean sir? Are you threatening a police officer?" Nope, not at all, just that should a law obiding citizen wish to make a formal complaint about the driving of an officer, how would they go about it? (At that point his face dropped, I think I hit a nerve)

Then he starts looking at the bike in closer detail. "I can't see your tax disc sir, you realise it's an offence not to display a tax disc, yes?" Yes, I do, you'll find that if you wipe the caked on oil away from the holder, there's a tax disc in there. So he wipes the disc holder reluctantly. "Erm, sir, do you realise your tax expired last Feb?" Oh crap, yea, that's right, wait a min, I'll get the current disc out of my pillion seat (I'm now grinning from ear to ear because he really didn't want to clean the disc holder, and I knew perfectly well where my current disc was!).

Next, he see's the exhaust. "That outlet on your exhaust looks rather large sir, can you please start the engine for me?" Oh bugger. OK. "That's rediculously loud, isn't it?" I have no idea what you mean officer, volume is a hard scale to judge by ear, I don't know what the legal limit is, but I find that a bike that makes more noise is seen by more people on the road. The exhaust came with the bike (), what's the legal limit & if you have a decibel meter, we can always test it now? "That's not the point sir, your local MOT station will tell you, the bike will not pass an MOT with a loud exhaust" (He dodged the question, he obviously doesn't know) Perhaps, but the MOT isn't due for another 2years almost, the bike is brand new.
"Well, you can have it MOT'd now, have this, and be on your way, I think we've both wasted enough time here."

My route to work passes a local police station (Denbigh), so I call off there to "discuss" the morning's events. Before I go inside, I'm off the bike, pillion seat off, baffle inserted into the scorpion carefully. After ranting & raving & shouting quite loudly at the woman on the desk, I'm taken through to another room.

After a while more raving comes the "Have you got the documentation that the officer provided you with?" Yes, here. "OK, well, technically you should get your vehicle MOT'd, but I can see your point in this event, so I'll sort this now, since you are obviously quite upset about the events, and you have no previous motoring convictions."

Result. I try to hide my happiness as I leave the police station. Yes, the numpty who pulled me was clearly in the wrong & didn't know what he was doing. Yes I should make an official complaint. However, in making an official complaint, I realise that I would have to admit to speeding myself, otherwise I wouldn't know the speed of the police car.

Basic steps when dealing with the police, don't say you know about anything, never admit anything and ask as many awkward questions as you can It might not work, but at least it makes things difficult.

[mattSV]

Quali - frickin - teeeee.

Next time, video it

[ScottishRawker]

what he did to pull you over was actually entrapment,

and as far as i can remeber thats illegal, (correct me, i may be wrong)

but well done for standing your ground.

Originally Posted by Baph

Sorry for the long post..

Now this is a 50mph zone, and he's doing a good 65mph. I know this because I'm sitting 4 cars behind him, we're all matching his speed (Not right I know, but hey, he can do it, so can I!)

The road opens to the 70mph zone, and he speeds up to around 90mph ish, so I do too. This continues for a good few miles. The long straights towards the Towyn turn off, he slows to just below 70mph & pulls over, so I go past at around 75-80mph, thinking nothing of it. Next thing I know, blue lights & a toot on the siren

.

that was a long post

think your self lucky you did not get 3 points & a speeding fine

overtaking a police car at 80mph in a 70 zone is asking for trouble, especilly with your plate & can

IMO

[ScottishRawker]

too lazy to edit my other one, but also police officers are to obey the highway code aswell, so he could have been done for speeding!!!! so him saying

[qoute]My speed is irrelevant[/qoute]

is actually a lie, think they are ment to obey the highway code even with blues and twos but its more relaxed since its an emergency.

im not 100% sure on everything iv said but im quite sure its right.

Originally Posted by Baph

"My speed is irrelevant, please sir, you need to calm down."

It's funny, whenever anybody tells me I need to calm down I feel an almost uncontrollable urge to punch them in the face. Even if I was calm before. Hmm. Maybe that's the reaction he was hoping for?

Originally Posted by Baph

After ranting & raving & shouting quite loudly at the woman on the desk, I'm taken through to another room.

At this point in the post I thought, "things will not go well for the young Baphster here", obviously watching too much Life On Mars...

It would seem that you fought the law and, at variance with what the Bobby Fuller Four would lead me to believe, you won!

Originally Posted by ScottishRawker

think they are ment to obey the highway code even with blues and twos but its more relaxed since its an emergency.

According to my brother (paramedic), the law applies strictly to emergency vehicles unless they are on an emergency call, with lights on at a minimum (silent approach by police cars is allowed, silent ambulances encouraged, siren to be used as/when required).

When the blue lights are on, they're allowed 110% of the law. That means in a 40 zone, they're only allowed to do 44mph. Then allow for speedo inaccuracies. However, my house gets broken into, or my kids needs to go to hospital in an ambulance, and the emergency services had better be breaking the law IMO! I don't care how fast they go with the blue lights on, without, they should stick to the same rules as everyone else.

Originally Posted by Tiger 55

It's funny, whenever anybody tells me I need to calm down I feel an almost uncontrollable urge to punch them in the face.

Calm down.

hes got a point though, nothing more likely to wind me up than someone telling me im too wound up,

baph, i reckon you were pretty lucky that the copper was clueless, a more aware one would have got you for the speeding and got you to take your chance in court, mag's will nearly always take the word of an experienced officer over a member of the public

still nice to hear about the "one that got away" mind............

Originally Posted by hovis

that was a long post

think your self lucky you did not get 3 points & a speeding fine

overtaking a police car at 80mph in a 70 zone is asking for trouble, especilly with your plate & can

IMO

I was probably closer to 75 than 80, but I just figured that it wasn't a traffic cop, and they'd been speeding, so fair's fair. I wasn't taking the mickey & doing 110 past them in a 70.

They never said a word about my plate, thankfully, the can was mentionned, but just incase they wanted a look at the station, the baffle was inserted when I got there

Yes, overtaking a police car over the limit is asking for it, but I deemed it as an acceptable risk given what had already happened.

Just makes me laugh that I stroll into work late, my boss looks up "Got stopped again?" Yup, sorted tho. Nothing more is said about it