What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

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tom66
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What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by tom66 »

See here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.73173 ... 384!8i8192

Location: M62-M1 interchange at Lofthouse, on the fast slip just after the tunnel under the M62.

Looks a bit like either surveying kit but the colour/Battenberg patterning looks a bit like police equipment - speed enforcement/measurement?
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by avtur »

Also often seen on building sites, I think they are some sort of security device.
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by Glen »

They are security cameras; battery powered, have mobile data connection, have a movement activated alarm and the cameras cover 360° around them.
PXL_20201024_114634008_copy_1612x1209.jpg
PXL_20210626_145156943_copy_1612x1209_copy_791x594.jpg
Last edited by Glen on Wed Dec 15, 2021 05:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by Big L »

So that's covered what. Why?
Make poetry history.

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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by Glen »

Big L wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 05:33 So that's covered what. Why?
Because there's a load of plant stored at the side of the motorway.
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by Fenlander »

I like to think they’re Daleks moonlighting as security guards. They get a bit noisy at you if you get too close to them, they had them on a site near here and one was positioned right up next to the public footpath so went berserk everytime someone walked past.
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by avtur »

Glen wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 05:39
Big L wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 05:33 So that's covered what. Why?
Because there's a load of plant stored at the side of the motorway.
Plant, equipment and fuel, all highly valuable commodities and highly knickable ...
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by Sulzer:1999 »

There were many of these ‘Daleks’ adjacent to the A95 near Boat of Garten when SSEN were doing their big cave burying project a couple of years ago.
At first I thought they were a new type of speed camera for the ridiculous 30mph speed restriction ( which everybody seemed to ignore).

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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by ravenbluemoon »

Fenlander wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 09:14 They get a bit noisy at you if you get too close to them, they had them on a site near here and one was positioned right up next to the public footpath so went berserk everytime someone walked past.
"You have 10 seconds to comply..." :shock:
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lexynoise
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by lexynoise »

The other replies are right - these are indeed security bots. Inside the body is a huge battery, a camera, a bright LED light, a loudspeaker and a cellular modem to communicate with the security company who installed them.

There was an abandoned council leisure centre behind my house which has now been demolished, but it was a target for urban explorers and vandals for a few years while it was closed but still standing. They boarded the place up, but people still got in.

A security company installed a few dozen of these security bots around the doors and windows to deter people. I kept hearing the Star Trek "red alert" sound coming from outside, and wondered what the hell it was. Turned out it was these security turrets.

If you get close to the front of them, the LED light comes on, they play the Star Trek "red alert" sound, and an aggressive Northern Irish voice shouts "Warning. This is security. Your presence has been detected. The police and the site owners have been informed." I presume it also records a photo or video of you and sends it somewhere.
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by Chris Bertram »

lexynoise wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:07If you get close to the front of them, the LED light comes on, they play the Star Trek "red alert" sound, and an aggressive Northern Irish voice shouts "Warning. This is security. Your presence has been detected. The police and the site owners have been informed." I presume it also records a photo or video of you and sends it somewhere.
Does it threaten you with being kneecapped? (One for older readers there).
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Re: What are these weird "Portal Turrets" by the side of this M62 slip doing?

Post by WHBM »

These ones look static, but there were some on a Balfours Crossrail site near us that were rotating. At first I thought they were ground movement detectors, which have been prevalent for some years above the same project (always coloured pale green for some reason), but closer inspection showed they were security cameras.

I've always been a bit of a supporter of Urban Explorers, one of whose mantras is to do absolutely no damage at all. I guess in my younger years I might have been attracted to go along. I feel it's a bit misplaced to lump them in with the thieves, vandals and graffiti artists, who I have no support for at all.

While speaking about my younger years, the amount of theft of plant etc I had to deal with from a site long ago was an absolute eye opener for me. Inside a highly secure factory complex, we would lose anything and everything. Worst was the starting batteries for the diesel welding sets, same as in cars, which all disappeared in the first frosty days of autumn. Eventually I moved on to keeping them locked in the stores, and a labourer going out each morning to jump start everything - only on the second day of this procedure the jump leads were stolen ...
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