I've been pulled a few times in my 30 odd years of driving.
Two stick out in my history. One good(ish), and one not so.
The good one first then.
At what used to be the very top of the M1 coming out of Leeds - a road I used to know well because I grew up not far away - the road still looks like the M1 but the speed limit has been dropped to either 40 or 50 I can't remember which.
My brother was involved in a major RTA and was in Intensive Care at Jimmys hospital in Leeds.
I'd driven from Nottingham, picked up my mum and been to visit what no longer looked like my brother.
On the way home I didn't spot the new speed limit and wondered why plod were following me at a sensible distance even though I was doing about 65 - well, I had my mum in the car after all.
When he pulled me I got out of the car before he did, ran down the hard shoulder to his car and went ballistic at him. I mean absolutely mentally ballistic.
To his credit he took it all. Went calmly about his business, got on the radio to confirm the RTA and when everything was confirmed just told me to take things easy because I was obviously thinking about other things, and get my mum home safely.
Even writing that brought back horrible memories and made me sad.
My brother pulled through BTW. Though is still living with his injuries.
The other was so daft you couldn't make it up.
I was on the A50 early one Sunday morning when I saw blues behind me. As I was getting off at the next exit I ignored them and went up the exit ramp believing the car would scream past me.
He didn't, and followed me up the ramp gesticulating at me.
When I pulled over he told me he had followed me between two marker points and I had been clocked at 134mph which was ridiculous.
When all the paperwork came through I employed a private detective (an ex trafpol as luck would have it) to check everything out. He worked out what the berk had done.
He had been sat in the services, seen me go past in an SRi and come out after me. But in his hurry forgot to reset the trip when he went under the first marker bridge.
In the paperwork he said he clocked me between two specific bridges.
Odd that the 2nd bridge was after the slip road where he wrote the ticket. And a receipt I had proved I must have exited at that slip road.
In other words he lied to cover his error and took me to court.
Despite winning and getting costs I was still out of pocket by about £300 to clear my name.
I guess laughing didn't help when he stopped me and told me I was doing 134mph but if he'd thought about it for a minute he would have realised he actually probably wouldn't have caught me from a standing start if I had been and he should have dropped it. So he deserved to be made look stupid in court. Which he did. Big style.
Two stick out in my history. One good(ish), and one not so.
The good one first then.
At what used to be the very top of the M1 coming out of Leeds - a road I used to know well because I grew up not far away - the road still looks like the M1 but the speed limit has been dropped to either 40 or 50 I can't remember which.
My brother was involved in a major RTA and was in Intensive Care at Jimmys hospital in Leeds.
I'd driven from Nottingham, picked up my mum and been to visit what no longer looked like my brother.
On the way home I didn't spot the new speed limit and wondered why plod were following me at a sensible distance even though I was doing about 65 - well, I had my mum in the car after all.
When he pulled me I got out of the car before he did, ran down the hard shoulder to his car and went ballistic at him. I mean absolutely mentally ballistic.
To his credit he took it all. Went calmly about his business, got on the radio to confirm the RTA and when everything was confirmed just told me to take things easy because I was obviously thinking about other things, and get my mum home safely.
Even writing that brought back horrible memories and made me sad.
My brother pulled through BTW. Though is still living with his injuries.
The other was so daft you couldn't make it up.
I was on the A50 early one Sunday morning when I saw blues behind me. As I was getting off at the next exit I ignored them and went up the exit ramp believing the car would scream past me.
He didn't, and followed me up the ramp gesticulating at me.
When I pulled over he told me he had followed me between two marker points and I had been clocked at 134mph which was ridiculous.
When all the paperwork came through I employed a private detective (an ex trafpol as luck would have it) to check everything out. He worked out what the berk had done.
He had been sat in the services, seen me go past in an SRi and come out after me. But in his hurry forgot to reset the trip when he went under the first marker bridge.
In the paperwork he said he clocked me between two specific bridges.
Odd that the 2nd bridge was after the slip road where he wrote the ticket. And a receipt I had proved I must have exited at that slip road.
In other words he lied to cover his error and took me to court.
Despite winning and getting costs I was still out of pocket by about £300 to clear my name.
I guess laughing didn't help when he stopped me and told me I was doing 134mph but if he'd thought about it for a minute he would have realised he actually probably wouldn't have caught me from a standing start if I had been and he should have dropped it. So he deserved to be made look stupid in court. Which he did. Big style.
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