Bizarre and odd encounter with undercover police car

Relentless81 said:
Maybe they were tailing you whilst they check to see if your car was stolen, potentially another fitting the description had been stolen
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Probably this. The anpr and other systems are all well and good but there could have been other reasons the police did some checks while following you.

I wouldn't worry, I've been followed a few times only for them to turn away.
 
Wouldn't look too much into it. I remember a while back daydreaming after a long journey and realising I had left all of the traffic behind, am alone in the middle lane and have speed limiter on about 80. Cop car pulls upto me, I pull into the inside lane, it briefly slows in front of me and then speeds off - I figured he was just telling me to watch my speed, but that he is looking for people much more over.

Sounds like they were just checking your details tbh. Maybe a car similar to yours had been reported stolen or something.
 
Could have been baiting you. Young (assuming here) male, new 'sporty' looking car, driving about after dark. Wouldn't be the first time I've heard it.
 
Most likely explanation they had intel on a similar vehicle and were checking up on you and/or it might have just been that you looked really out of place in the car.
 
Please don't call 101 asking for an explanation :( really not what the line is meant for...

Most likely they booted it to catch up with you and have a quick look at the vehicle and see who was driving, vehicle checks are not always conducted in a matter of seconds for various reasons as mentioned (no ANPR, congestion over the radio channel, and/or force policy that has them ring a telephone service desk rather than request it 'live' over the radio talkgroup, that and depending on how the control/radio is setup the details of any check may not always be read back immediately to the car/officers requesting them if the person doing the checks is handling more than one unit).
 
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Will said:
Please don't call 101 asking for an explanation :( really not what the line is meant for...

Most likely they booted it to catch up with you and have a quick look at the vehicle and see who was driving, vehicle checks are not always conducted in a matter of seconds for various reasons as mentioned (no ANPR, congestion over the radio channel, and/or force policy that has them ring a telephone service desk rather than request it 'live' over the radio talkgroup, that and depending on how the control/radio is setup the details of any check may not always be read back immediately to the car/officers requesting them if the person doing the checks is handling more than one unit).
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That is exactly what 101 is for

http://www.police.uk/contact/101/

"Speak to the police about a general enquiry"
 
Imagine if everyone who was followed by a police car called 101 because they were curious to know why?

I could perhaps understand it if they'd actually pulled you over but it seems a bit of a non event generally given the explanations given here.
 
Will said:
Imagine if everyone who was followed by a police car called 101 because they were curious to know why?

I could perhaps understand it if they'd actually pulled you over but it seems a bit of a non event generally given the explanations given here.
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It was the being followed that bothered me, i have been followed by police a number of times before for a bit like we all no doubt have.

It was the manner in which it was done last night and also the fact that they just ignored people who were actually speeding and driving dangerously.
 
Even though it sounds like odd behaviour for plod I bet he was running all sorts of checks while driving by u given the rate the Fezza's with keyless entry are getting stolen. He was probably checking to see if u would get nervous and floor it aswell.
As for the others breaking the limit I've seen plenty of people speed past police cars on the Motorway and not get pulled. Even I got let off for getting a little carried away in a 30mph zone. He came after me with the blues blaring got out all annoyed saying he had to do 50 to catch up then took my details then said "on your way":eek:
 
Whats to say they were not briefed that evening about a stolen red Fiesta ST in the area? And checked yours wasn't it when they spotted it....

Imagine if your car was pinched and they had been briefed to look out for it at the start of their shift, but then missed it because although they spotted a similar vehicle from a way off down the road, they decided to go past it give someone else a speeding ticket instead? How would you feel then? No doubt if that had happened there'd be someone moaning about being given the ticket on another forum somewhere else too :o

Playing devils advocate here but seeing as everyone likes to second guess the police on everything, why not :)
 
He would have pulled you if you were doing wrong or he had something he wanted to chat about. He probably just checked you out, I'd stop stressing about it, it's what the feds do.
 
You almost lost me at "Astra Van" but as I appreciate long posts over one-liners I read the lot and it it really doesn't sound like anything worth losing any sleep over. My guess is that they were either not on-duty police, or were more intested in something else at the time (i.e. not the speeding cars). As mentioned supposedly loads of keyless entry cars including Fiesta STs have been stolen lately.
 
Jono8 said:
It was the being followed that bothered me, i have been followed by police a number of times before for a bit like we all no doubt have.

It was the manner in which it was done last night and also the fact that they just ignored people who were actually speeding and driving dangerously.
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Say they were looking for a car that's made of from a street robbery and your car matches the description given. They see you and stay close in case you look like you're going to make off. They do some checks, look at who is driving and realise that it's not the car their after. So they continue searching the area. They are committed on another job and don't have time to start pulling people over for speeding which on the grand scheme of things is pretty low level.

This is just one of a myriad of possible explanations.
 
If it was relatively late at night, maybe the fact you were driving slowly etc. was what aroused their suspicions, they may have seen a Fiesta ST out late at night and figured you were trying to drive 'too correctly' to avoid suspicion.
 
My brother once got pulled in his new Fiesta Zetec S when he was young. I was in the passenger seat having just come off the motorway. Wasn't doing anything wrong, not even speeding.

Police start confrontational asking him how he can afford such a car at his age (really... it's about £15k) and said he crossed the solid white line when exiting (on an empty motorway??). When he replied that he was in the RAF so didn't have many outgoings the Police suddenly backed down and said "I'll just give you a £60 fine for not wearing a seatbelt instead so you don't get points".

Crazy. I was told to stay in the car but if they had come at me with that questioning I don't think I would have accepted it. What are you supposed to do I suppose?
 
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