Vehicle with blue lights and strobes... but for which service?

[John]

So I spotted the following vehicle recently and it's clearly got a rather odd-looking blue light (and I mean odd as in not like your typical police car or even "Fire and Rescue" car painted red etc.

You can see two white strobes in the back screen.

Which, I presume emergency, service would this be affiliated with?

 

[m2287]

Strange - I thought emergency vehicles had bi annual MOTs

 

[c63chris]

You can get those lights on eBay and the like. Every once in a while someone is done for it.

 

[Doodle]

Usual culprit is a fire officer's vehicle.

 

[roviw1]

I regularly see unusual blue light cars on the M25 Surrey section, tend to be a make and model not normally chosen by the forces. I wondered the same thing. Not sure if they may be border force or customs and excise as they are generally between the Gatwick and Heathrow area.

 

[219]

So I spotted the following vehicle recently and it's clearly got a rather odd-looking blue light (and I mean odd as in not like your typical police car or even "Fire and Rescue" car painted red etc.

You can see two white strobes in the back screen.

Which, I presume emergency, service would this be affiliated with?

View attachment 88517

Fire service , most likely.

I have blue lights for my own cars , to gain free access through cordons or for protection when attending RTCs . I don’t use them to proceed through traffic . Also useful to avoid getting parking tickets when attending incidents in town , although we also have ‘officer on call’ signs to put in the windscreen where there isn’t time/ space to worry about looking for parking spaces - and we don’t abuse the privilege .

I have a dash mounted blue light for the R129 , and mag mount beacons , similar to the one on the Hyundai, for my other cars .

I also have covert lights which can be mounted behind a grille or in the rear windscreen, like the ones in your picture ( they all appear white when off but can be blue/red/green/amber ) but don’t use these on my current cars as I no longer routinely do on call , but remain available for major incidents ( last one I did was Glasgow School of Art ) .

Officers and support staff who attend incidents can use them on their own cars .

Oh , also note the distinctive Airwave antenna on the roof : points to it being most likely a fire officer , although police/ ambulance and others use the system.

In addition , while many of our operational vehicles are liveried up with stripes/battenberg etc and have ‘Fire’ clearly marked , we have a huge variety of other vehicles for use by support staff which can be marked or unmarked and just about any make or colour - these are all fleet vehicles.

 

[BTB 500]

Seems that some Police forces have given cars like these to civilian employees:

MPs demand inquiry as police civilians given cars with blue lights and sirens

 

[219]

Seems that some Police forces have given cars like these to civilian employees:

MPs demand inquiry as police civilians given cars with blue lights and sirens

Depends on their duties : although I am a civilian, I have an operational role ( and a call sign ) because for years I was on call to attend incidents.

Although my role in the service has changed , I could still be called on to help at a major incident , so still have fire kit / blue lights etc . I don’t , however have sirens or two tones .

Anyone who might have to attend incidents can justifiably be issued with them .

Also we have pool cars which can be used as required either by operational staff or by non operational support staff ( provided they’re not needed by the former ) .

Further to that article : an ‘IT expert’ might well be on call to provide support at operational incidents: command vehicles and the like have a lot of technology on board , which can at times need support at a job ; same with fleet services staff who may need to attend incidents to keep machinery running . We also have scientific advisors who can be on call to identify and advise on hazardous materials ; doctors ; chaplains ; catering and welfare staff ... the list is endless , and protracted incidents can go on for days .

Yes , there can be tax benefits , but I’m not aware of anyone abusing them , and for my own part I’ve always found it more cost effective to run my own vehicles than to be leasing and paying tax on something that is never mine . The only brigade vehicle I took for a while was a Land Rover Defender , which I had for work for a couple of years ( because no one else wanted to drive it ) and I thoroughly enjoyed it . It not only had multiple blue lights , but proper two tone air horns , same as full size appliances , brigade radio ( VHF - pre airwave ) , VMDS and the old ‘button box’ as well as a tow bar , winch and other goodies .

Then one bad winter it was taken for operational use and I never got it back , last time I saw it was up in Oban for towing the water rescue RIB on its trailer .

 

[esscee]

Regarding the Surrey section of the M25, as driving that section on way to Gatwick one Sunday evening a few months I spotted a dark blue Bmw 3 series go past then after a mile or so a car in front of me got the shock of a large display in the Bmw rear window telling him to move over as he was hogging the lane!
During the next few miles before I turned off for Gatwick said 3 series caught many vehicles and together with flashing blue lights in his rear window, including one idiot that was doing well over the 70mph speed limit in the outer lane.

 

[BTB 500]

Further to that article : an ‘IT expert’ might well be on call to provide support at operational incidents: command vehicles and the like have a lot of technology on board , which can at times need support at a job ; same with fleet services staff who may need to attend incidents to keep machinery running . We also have scientific advisors who can be on call to identify and advise on hazardous materials ; doctors ; chaplains ; catering and welfare staff ... the list is endless , and protracted incidents can go on for days .

Absolutely, but hard to think of a scenario where senior management in finance or HR would need to use blue lights?

Cars went to senior finance officers, IT chiefs and, in Humberside, the “assistant chief officer” of human resources, all of whom were civilians.

West Mercia and Warwickshire Police said they had previously paid for a similar car for their joint "director of enabling services".

 

[BTB 500]

Regarding the Surrey section of the M25, as driving that section on way to Gatwick one Sunday evening a few months I spotted a dark blue Bmw 3 series go past then after a mile or so a car in front of me got the shock of a large display in the Bmw rear window telling him to move over as he was hogging the lane!
During the next few miles before I turned off for Gatwick said 3 series caught many vehicles and together with flashing blue lights in his rear window, including one idiot that was doing well over the 70mph speed limit in the outer lane.

Interesting as that stretch is rife with speed cameras, which do a pretty good job of catching people going over the limit. Nice to see action being taken on lane hoggers though - it's quite astonishing how slowly some people drive in clear conditions without moving over (50-55 mph is not uncommon). This can be a real problem if you're not allowed to use the outside lane to overtake.

 

[John]

You can get those lights on eBay and the like. Every once in a while someone is done for it.

Interestingly, I was behind the car above and for the same part of the journey for a few miles, the car behind me was a genuine cop car and the car in front was never stopped so perhaps not in this case.

Usual culprit is a fire officer's vehicle.

Yeah, that's what I presumed.

 

[219]

Absolutely, but hard to think of a scenario where senior management in finance or HR would need to use blue lights?

Indeed , unless they had to spend their budget before losing it ..,

 

[markjay]

This does create an odd situation.

Let's say a force has several blue-light pool cars available.

And let's say that a civilian manager needs a car to go about his or her legitmate but non-emergency duties.

So the force lets them use one of the pool cars, which also happen to have a blue light.

But what the critics are saying is that the blue-light pool cars should remain in the car park, and the force should instead buy (or lease) non-blue-light cars for the non-emergency use of the civilian staff.

And the logic behind this is that when a civilian member of staff uses a non-blue-light car, they are taxed for the BIK (assuming they are not using a panel van). So by not buying the civilian staff these non-blue-light cars, the force is 'robbing' the Treasury of potential tax income.

So somehow, having the force buy MORE cars, is the solution? Surely the overall cost to the Treasury of forces having two sets of pool cars is higher than any BIK income that may arise from this setup?

 

[Bellow]

Paramedics also have cars fitted with concealed blue lights. Volvo estates in my neck of the woods. Coastguards also have blue lights but whether on unmarked vehicles I don't know.

 

[Darrell]

A buddy of mine who is a plumber purchased a Transit at auction that had blue lights concealed behind the front grill. I can’t remember if it had anything at the back but it turned out to be an ex RAF vehicle.

 

[markjay]

Not directly related, but...:


Circumcision ambulance stolen in cut-and-run attack found

 

[Bellow]

Not directly related, but...:


Circumcision ambulance stolen in cut-and-run attack found

Why did he feel the need to livery the Audi to look like it was genuine emergency response vehicle? Still, it'll only be a wrap that is removable...

 

[Gollom]

Not directly related, but...:


Circumcision ambulance stolen in cut-and-run attack found

If you stroke it, would it turn into a limo?

I'll get my coat...….

 

[markjay]

Why did he feel the need to livery the Audi to look like it was genuine emergency response vehicle? Still, it'll only be a wrap that is removable...

Agreed, but I think that this is not the only part that sounds a a bit odd about this story....

I guess 'eccentric' might be an appropriate term.