Snapped Spring - 3 points & a fine?

[GeForce]

Hello Motors.

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to the following.

My girlfriend was in her friend's Ford Ka driving down the A3 last week, when a police car pulled her over, since one of the rear coil springs had snapped. They asked if either of them had noticed anything, to which the driver said she'd heard something earlier but thought it had been something rolling around in the boot. My girlfriend hadn't noticed any abnormal noises.

The two officers then called for someone who could better assess the car, bringing the total police attendance to two cars and five officers. One of the officers removed the vehicle from the hard shoulder. The friend was given three points and a £60 fine for 'driving a dangerous vehicle' (I believe that's the wording) along with "you can appeal if you like, but I'll see you in court". The police then left, leaving my girlfriend and her friend to wait for the RAC. All in all, the police were there for about an hour.

Now, two things:
1) 5 man-hours of police time, I thought this was excessive. Would you agree?
2) Giving points & fine rather than a warning. Again, excessive? The girls know very little about cars and genuinely had no idea anything was amiss.

As a side issue, both of them said the police officers acted in a less than professional manner, though of course this is rather subjective.

 

[GeForce]

Cheers guys.

As you've both pointed out, this is second hand information so I can't guarantee I've given an accurate depiction of events, but this is how it appeared to me after having a long chat about it with my girlfriend, who was quite unsettled about it. Her friend was also upset, actually breaking down in tears after the police had left.

In terms of being unprofessional, the general picture I got was all five of them standing around having a laugh with each other for needless amounts of time. Particularly, one of them told the friend that they were "thinking of arresting her on suspicion of stealing hospital property" (they are both district nurses who use their cars for work and happened to have some medical supplies in the boot). When explaining about what had happened, it was apparently in a rather condescending manner. As I said, this part is pretty subjective.

Edit: Matt: I've seen the car recently, it's in decent condition (few rust patches - what a surprise!). Apparently one side of the car was sitting noticeably lower than the other, which I can believe.

 

[GeForce]

Thanks for all your replies.

I don;t think the issue is that they stopped them and made them get towed, more the points and the fine.

Definitely. I've got no issue with them being stopped, that's entirely right and proper.

1) Did they record any evidence of a broken spring?

That I don't know, but I will try and find out.

Pics of said car

The spring (and the opposite side) have since been replaced, and I don't think there were any pictures from before the repair I'm afraid.

 

[GeForce]

1. IMO it comes back to one of the best answers I've ever heard from a Police officer when someone was ranting about Police not having anything better to do than pull him over for speeding. 'Yes sir we do but unfortunately you were speeding so I have to waste my time with you.'

I am certainly not saying they should not have been pulled over. My question was more whether five officers and two cars waiting for the entire hour was excessive.

 

[GeForce]

I'd also rather that the police called in back up who are better qualified to make a judgement on a specialised point than get it wrong.

TBF, The officers concerned could've expected to get it dealt with within 10 mins, but police work being what it is, that second car could've been delayed on route because they'd seen some scrote acting the arse & had to stop & deal with it.

These are both very good points, I hadn't really considered this.

She has nothing to moan about & should take more care when it comes to knocks & bangs from her car as she is responsible for it & anything she does in or with it.

I guess this comes back to the "ignorance is not a defence" point, which is entirely fair. Are you of the opinion that the officer giving them a warning would not have been appropriate, especially given the number of people who have been saying they've driven on broken springs for a hundred or more miles?

Put in a formal comlpaint and demand a repsonse, state the facts and how you were treated/talked to.

I'm not planning to advise her either way on how to proceed, I don't feel I can given, as you say, I have only heard one side of the story and was not even present at the incident. The purpose of this thread is just to hear people's thoughts and opinions.

I did ask my girlfriend if anything else had happened, and I don't believe she's missed anything out of the story in relaying it to me. However, there is of course some inevitable bias here.

 

[GeForce]

No, it wasn't excessive. First car wanted a second opinion, second car arrived to provide it. It's not like they had three RPUs, an ARV, a dog van and a helicopter overhead, is it?

This is true. Why the second car didn't leave as soon as the verdict was complete is something I am still missing, however.

If the officers acted unprofessionally, and if she genuinely feels they didn't deal with the situation properly, she should complain. She needs to make sure she's not just bitter because she was told-off for clearly having no idea of the condition her car was in, however.

Yes of course, and there is certainly an element of emotion, especially immediately after the incident. However, my girlfriend was also unsettled by the way they were treated and spoken to, and it isn't her car (although admittedly it is her friend).

 

[GeForce]

For it to have been noticed by the car behind it must have been pretty bad!

Is the point here that because it must have been so bad, the driver should have noticed and this therefore excuses the points and fine?

So because I think through my own experience that it must have been completely ****** the Cop actually did the driver a favour your girlfriend & you as the car must have been crabbing & would not have broke in a straight line under heavy braking through an emergency stop etc.

You mean the points & fine instead of a warning was in order to properly make the point that the car could have been dangerous? Fair enough if so, just clarifying

 

[GeForce]

Yes I think it was minor shock tactics to make her be more aware of her car & whether it's roadworthy.

Understood, and that does sound like a plausible explanation. Thank you

Pure speculation on my behalf but I wouldn't be entirely surprised to find out that was near enough what happened.

There is a good chance you're right actually, I hadn't really thought about it like this. It would certainly explain some things, particularly the officers' reactions in terms of tone and penalty.

 

[GeForce]

Surely the points is excessive why not give her a producer to get it fixed at a garage and then prove it to the police. Gets the car fixed and the point across without a need for 5 police officers with nothing better to do and a waste of an hour.

Precisely my thoughts when I was first told about it. Something doesn't quite add up (some of the suggestions in this thread offer some possibilities) - I'm sure the officers were not setting out to be vindictive.

 

[GeForce]

When you say the Cops left them to wait for the RAC was that for Recovery & did they specify that she couldn't drive it until fixed ?

Yes that was for recovery (car was put on a low loader), she was asked not to drive it. They also said it was required to have an MOT before being put back on the road.

Unless they were getting jip from the driver/passenger I would have thought a warning and ask for it to be towed by the recovery company would suffice.

There's no point challenging the verdict, as it sounds quite clear cut. But if you/she genuinely think the officers were out of order in the way they were dealing with the situation - then there's nothing wrong with putting a complaint in.

They are absolutely not the type of people who would be rude or talk back to the police. However, there may be some truth in the earlier suggestion of not being entirely honest about noticing the noise. I can't tell you for certain.

I will mention the fact that they could put in a complaint if they are genuinely of the opinion that the officers did not behave as they should have done, rather than their upset just being an artefact of being stopped and reprimanded.

So they want to contest it, but didn't think to take any pictures at all of the damaged part?

She is not planning to contest it as far as I know.

 

[GeForce]

Can they actually do that? 'Randomly' stipulate a car must repass an MOT?

All that's done is make me think she had a broken spring and the MOT was out of date? In which case the 3 points and a fine might be more related to the lack of MOT.

I was thinking this as I wrote it. I'm sure they would have explicitly said the words "your MOT has expired" if this had been the case.

I've no idea if the police can stipulate that the car must pass an MOT before being allowed back on the road, I had just assumed it was due to the poor state of the suspension that they needed it to be checked over.

Anyone else know whether the police can just state that the car must have an MOT?