Yesterday, as I was visiting sunny cornwall I was being followed by the most infamous of them all, a traffic cop.
In the aggressive and rude tone that most of them have, he said, and i quote; "oi, you, i need to speak to you, pull up over there and get out of your car." in which i replied "alright" with a smile on my face.
What he pulled me for was;
Front tints - Which I have been stopped before, and before most of you start cussing at me, i know they are illegal and it was inevitable i was going to be stopped again for these.
Tinted Headlights - I have tints on my headlights, for which stops glare and light spatter as I have HID installed. And, if anything, they comply to the legal limits of 'tints used on any windowed surface of a vehicle' which is 70% light allowance. But from what I know, it is NOT illegal to have tinted headlights, as long as it shows it can produce the sufficient amount of light through its lens hence how it passed its current MOT.
One perished tyre - I bought 4 used tyres just under a month ago, and one of them had a little perish on the sidewall, which i had been told by 2 garages and the tyre center themselves that it won't be a harm to have it on. I brandished the invoice and the note they wrote incase i did get stopped but the traffic cop thought he knew better.
Lowered suspension - He said 'your rear end looks quite lowered, no doubt is that illegal so I'll be checking that'
Though, I know for sure that as long as it a) doesn't rub the arch above, it will pass MOT and it is not illegal so it complies with the BSA/DVLA. b) it has room to travel up and down so the suspension is not compromised and c) there is space between the arch and the sidewall.
So he just said 'thats for me to tell you, not you to tell me'...
last but not least, pressed plates - I know pressed plates have been a grey area for a matter of years. And being a forum/messageboard whore that I am, I have checked courteous amounts of forums to find answers.
From what I know and understand; as long as the plates are....
- Same size as normal plates
- legal font which is the Charles Wright Font
- legal spacing between each letter
- must be black text
- BSAU stamped with a serial number
Which mine DO comply with, and after amounts of low tone arguing, he still said 'it doesn't matter how much you're going to try and understand the law, you wont understand the law, but you must understand that those plates are in fact illegal'
Again, a situation where these so called law enforcers have the upper hand, picking out the most pettiest things, whether they know its illegal or not.
The bit that annoys me the most is that he countlessly threatened to prohibit my vehicle and arrest me.
From what I gathered, the sidewall of my tyre is only a warning so he cannot prohibit my vehicle. My tints are removable, therefore if they were removed on the spot, he cannot do anything. My suspension is none of his matter and my tints on the headlights are legal.
So the only thing he could do (which he knew) was get me done for my front tints. So at the end of it all, he ticketed me for my front tints and they were removed and we were allowed to go.
This is what i dont understand, he spends an hour and a half going on about how he can prohibit and tow my vehicle because there are 'countless' illegal modifications on my car but when he radios it in, he was only really allowed to do me for the front tints.
he even said and i quote 'dont smirk son, or you wont be driving anywhere from here, you'll be sat in the nick overnight' ..
I mean seriously? he was going to nick me for keeping a smile on my face.
If there are any law enforcers here, I suggest you guys have a more positive attitude when you pull guys over. I was almost TOO complient and cooperative with this copper, and I even agreed he could tow my vehicle away. But what pisses me off is your attitude, jesus, just smile a bit and talk like a normal person.
/rant over
In the aggressive and rude tone that most of them have, he said, and i quote; "oi, you, i need to speak to you, pull up over there and get out of your car." in which i replied "alright" with a smile on my face.
What he pulled me for was;
Front tints - Which I have been stopped before, and before most of you start cussing at me, i know they are illegal and it was inevitable i was going to be stopped again for these.
Tinted Headlights - I have tints on my headlights, for which stops glare and light spatter as I have HID installed. And, if anything, they comply to the legal limits of 'tints used on any windowed surface of a vehicle' which is 70% light allowance. But from what I know, it is NOT illegal to have tinted headlights, as long as it shows it can produce the sufficient amount of light through its lens hence how it passed its current MOT.
One perished tyre - I bought 4 used tyres just under a month ago, and one of them had a little perish on the sidewall, which i had been told by 2 garages and the tyre center themselves that it won't be a harm to have it on. I brandished the invoice and the note they wrote incase i did get stopped but the traffic cop thought he knew better.
Lowered suspension - He said 'your rear end looks quite lowered, no doubt is that illegal so I'll be checking that'
Though, I know for sure that as long as it a) doesn't rub the arch above, it will pass MOT and it is not illegal so it complies with the BSA/DVLA. b) it has room to travel up and down so the suspension is not compromised and c) there is space between the arch and the sidewall.
So he just said 'thats for me to tell you, not you to tell me'...
last but not least, pressed plates - I know pressed plates have been a grey area for a matter of years. And being a forum/messageboard whore that I am, I have checked courteous amounts of forums to find answers.
From what I know and understand; as long as the plates are....
- Same size as normal plates
- legal font which is the Charles Wright Font
- legal spacing between each letter
- must be black text
- BSAU stamped with a serial number
Which mine DO comply with, and after amounts of low tone arguing, he still said 'it doesn't matter how much you're going to try and understand the law, you wont understand the law, but you must understand that those plates are in fact illegal'
Again, a situation where these so called law enforcers have the upper hand, picking out the most pettiest things, whether they know its illegal or not.
The bit that annoys me the most is that he countlessly threatened to prohibit my vehicle and arrest me.
From what I gathered, the sidewall of my tyre is only a warning so he cannot prohibit my vehicle. My tints are removable, therefore if they were removed on the spot, he cannot do anything. My suspension is none of his matter and my tints on the headlights are legal.
So the only thing he could do (which he knew) was get me done for my front tints. So at the end of it all, he ticketed me for my front tints and they were removed and we were allowed to go.
This is what i dont understand, he spends an hour and a half going on about how he can prohibit and tow my vehicle because there are 'countless' illegal modifications on my car but when he radios it in, he was only really allowed to do me for the front tints.
he even said and i quote 'dont smirk son, or you wont be driving anywhere from here, you'll be sat in the nick overnight' ..
I mean seriously? he was going to nick me for keeping a smile on my face.
If there are any law enforcers here, I suggest you guys have a more positive attitude when you pull guys over. I was almost TOO complient and cooperative with this copper, and I even agreed he could tow my vehicle away. But what pisses me off is your attitude, jesus, just smile a bit and talk like a normal person.
/rant over