Can highways maintenance vehicles use blue lights?

[Vierwielen]

Maintenance vehicles also cannot use flashing red lights, they also are reserved for emergency vehicles. Same legislation as mentioned above presumably.

And my don't certain police forces throw the dummy out of the pram if they catch a maintenance vehicle with flashing reds, and rightly so.

i do think thiis a somewhat related to the concept of of ' only authorised people can direct traffic' which in the pre-HATO, pre PCSO ( although for a long while PCSOs had to bs specially designated to have TW powers) and de-regualtion of traffic managment meant only ( holders of the Office of )Constable or Traffic Warden could do that

I believe that the police also know when to "turn a blind eye". About thirty years ago, I stopped traffic here (a principal road leading out of Canterbury) for a few minutes on a Saturday afternoon. I am reasonably tall and was dressed in top hat and tails, having been an usher at a wedding which was held a few hundred metres up the road. The wedding party had walked in procession to the bride's parent's home for the reception and the photographer wanted to take a pictue of the groom carring the bridse acroiss the threshold. I stepped into the road and stopped teh traffic for about two minutes so enable the photographer to occupy one of the lanes do his work.

[Vierwielen]

I was told of another instance of the police not only turning a blind eye, but thanking those invovled.

While the Offical Monster Raving Loony Party were holding its annual converence in Blackpool and were all dressed in silly clothes, they took a ride in an open-air bus around the town when they came across a road accident. Immediately they dropped their "silly" attitude and did what any normal human being would do - help. Somebody who knew first aid assisted the injurec party while others directed traffic. The police were there toute suite having had phone calls about people in silly clothes "disrupting the traffic flow". When they got there they were able to take over and thanked those who had assisted.

[wallmeerkat]

The funeral parlour my family uses is on a fairly busy stretch of A2 outside Belfast, but it is common to stop traffic to allow the funeral to walk and carry the coffin a short stretch. The funeral directors facilitate this, traffic is usually respectful.

[Owain]

Hang on. The M180? In Humberside? In all my years I never saw one of Humberside's finest on their bit of the motorway network. Marked or unmarked.
Not Humberside, but I've seen a few unmarked cars with their blues on.

I've only ever driven on the M180 twice, and on the first occasion - in the middle of the night - there was a fully marked police car sitting on a bridge above one of the junctions.

How does one know if any other relatively new BMW or whatever is an unmarked police car or not?

They have loads of gear stuck on the front and rear windows, and a small antenna on the roof that a standard BMW doesn't have.

Granted, you have to be pretty close and driving in daylight to see these things, but they are the telltale signs.

[Ruperts Trooper]

Hang on. The M180? In Humberside? In all my years I never saw one of Humberside's finest on their bit of the motorway network. Marked or unmarked.
Not Humberside, but I've seen a few unmarked cars with their blues on.

I've only ever driven on the M180 twice, and on the first occasion - in the middle of the night - there was a fully marked police car sitting on a bridge above one of the junctions.

How does one know if any other relatively new BMW or whatever is an unmarked police car or not?

They have loads of gear stuck on the front and rear windows, and a small antenna on the roof that a standard BMW doesn't have.

Granted, you have to be pretty close and driving in daylight to see these things, but they are the telltale signs.

Somehow you can sense an unmarked car - some years ago I was on the A500 when an "obvious" unmarked car joined just behind me - I carried on thinking I was under the 50 limit in the roadworks only to get stopped by the unmarked car and pointed out the 30 limit - my first speeding ticket.

[wallmeerkat]

A lot of PSNI unmarked cars are fairly obvious, typically Skoda Superb estates with a window tint (armoured windows) and a few aerials. No numberplate dealer.

I remember the 80s they didn't even have blue lights in the grille, you knew if a green tint Sierra was flashing headlights what the craic was.

[solocle]

I was told of another instance of the police not only turning a blind eye, but thanking those invovled.

While the Offical Monster Raving Loony Party were holding its annual converence in Blackpool and were all dressed in silly clothes, they took a ride in an open-air bus around the town when they came across a road accident. Immediately they dropped their "silly" attitude and did what any normal human being would do - help. Somebody who knew first aid assisted the injurec party while others directed traffic. The police were there toute suite having had phone calls about people in silly clothes "disrupting the traffic flow". When they got there they were able to take over and thanked those who had assisted.

I directed traffic once, two years ago, after being first on scene at an RTC. I was just out on a bike ride. Until the police turned up, me and a couple of drivers who stopped in the scheme of things helped avoid anyone colliding with the motorcycle laid down in the carriageway (the motorcyclist had been thrown over a fence).

[tom66]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

[Ruperts Trooper]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

I would have thought that a Golf GTI would make a good unmarked patrol car in London, rather than an undercover car

[wallmeerkat]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

An unmarked BMW 1 series on blues and twos overtook me on the NI M5 at the weekend. I was already in the inside lane doing 70 and they blipped as they passed, should I have slowed down? (they were already in the outside lane at speed and traffic was sparse approaching the roundabout terminus) or was it just an indication that they were there? An unusual car for PSNI, probably quite fast but relatively small.

[tom66]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

I would have thought that a Golf GTI would make a good unmarked patrol car in London, rather than an undercover car

I should clarify this was in 2022, so such a car would be at minimum 8 years old (it had a private plate but I can't recall the reg now.) So that stood out to me because I thought police forces don't tend to keep older vehicles around. I suppose it's possible that's exactly what you'd want for an undercover car - it might not get too much attention being old.

[Hrossey]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

I would have thought that a Golf GTI would make a good unmarked patrol car in London, rather than an undercover car

I should clarify this was in 2022, so such a car would be at minimum 8 years old (it had a private plate but I can't recall the reg now.) So that stood out to me because I thought police forces don't tend to keep older vehicles around. I suppose it's possible that's exactly what you'd want for an undercover car - it might not get too much attention being old.

Some of the more sneaky specialist police teams use rather unusual and/or older unmarked cars. A mk6 Golf GTI is absolutely the type of thing they’d go for.

[WHBM]

Some of the more sneaky specialist police teams use rather unusual and/or older unmarked cars. A mk6 Golf GTI is absolutely the type of thing they’d go for.

I believe the Met now just buy random "unmarked" cars secondhand at auction, so have one of everything. Those they are staking out tend to have more knowledge about cars than the average. It used to be that they went for performance vehicles and stripped them down to plain base decals, but those might be spotted by the cognoscenti by different tyres etc. The days when they were all pale grey Sierras and Granadas, because of the Dagenham factory within their territory, are long gone.

[Nicola_Jayne]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

the vast majority of 'undercover' i.e. covert v Police vehicles even if now fitted with warning devices will not used them unless there is absolutely no alternative as the vehicle is compromised after using them

people really do need to understand the difference between unmarked and undercover vehicle and between plain clothes ( i.e Detectives and those working with detectives on various squads) and undercover officers

[Nicola_Jayne]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

I would have thought that a Golf GTI would make a good unmarked patrol car in London, rather than an undercover car

In the early days of Tracker vehicle location systems didn't the Met run Mk4 GTis/ VR6s as Tracker units ?

[Bryn666]

In South London I saw a Mk6 Golf GTI outfitted with blues - seemed an unusual vehicle for police to use undercover. It parked in a bus stop and four burly men got out. I've no idea if they were undercover cops, but it didn't feel like they were. My guess was some chancers had blue lights fitted to jump traffic. What's the penalty I wonder?

the vast majority of 'undercover' i.e. covert v Police vehicles even if now fitted with warning devices will not used them unless there is absolutely no alternative as the vehicle is compromised after using them

people really do need to understand the difference between unmarked and undercover vehicle and between plain clothes ( i.e Detectives and those working with detectives on various squads) and undercover officers

Likewise CID often use their own vehicles which are fitted with blue lights - you see these rushing across Manchester a fair bit unsurprisingly.

Undercover cops on the other hand don't tend to tell you they're cops, because they wouldn't be undercover if they did.

[Chris Bertram]

Chief Inspector Morse's car in the TV series was definitely his own (he was Thames Valley CID), though I don't ever remember him using a blue light on it.

[Bryn666]

Chief Inspector Morse's car in the TV series was definitely his own (he was Thames Valley CID), though I don't ever remember him using a blue light on it.

Given the backstory of that Jag I imagine anyone trying to modify it would've been thumped...

[Nicola_Jayne]

Likewise CID often use their own vehicles which are fitted with blue lights - you see these rushing across Manchester a fair bit unsurprisingly.

Not aware of any 999 service where people's 'own' cars ( as opposed to 'company cars' ) are fitted with warning devices, the nearest to this is some of the Immediate care schemes where you have Doctors/ Nurses / Paramedics responding as volunteers in their off duty times, but this is additional to the Service's own MERIT or MERIT beign contracted to helimed land units (as seen in London , 'Mid Anglia' and Lincs and Notts to name 3) or the Immediate care scheme's planned shifts in a marked vehicle ( e.g. LIVES CEMS and LIVES critical care car)

My sibling is a Police Officer with an On call role in addition to the day to day duties of their rank in their team and they don't have warning devices on their own vehicle if their on call role required a response in a marked / warning device equipped vehicle they'd be expected to go to FHQ or their base station and collect a force vehicle. I have firends and acquaintances who are flexi duty roles in the FRS and ambulance service and their vehicles with warning devices are lease cars supplied through the service

[Bryn666]

Likewise CID often use their own vehicles which are fitted with blue lights - you see these rushing across Manchester a fair bit unsurprisingly.

Not aware of any 999 service where people's 'own' cars ( as opposed to 'company cars' ) are fitted with warning devices, the nearest to this is some of the Immediate care schemes where you have Doctors/ Nurses / Paramedics responding as volunteers in their off duty times, but this is additional to the Service's own MERIT or MERIT beign contracted to helimed land units (as seen in London , 'Mid Anglia' and Lincs and Notts to name 3) or the Immediate care scheme's planned shifts in a marked vehicle ( e.g. LIVES CEMS and LIVES critical care car)

My sibling is a Police Officer with an On call role in addition to the day to day duties of their rank in their team and they don't have warning devices on their own vehicle if their on call role required a response in a marked / warning device equipped vehicle they'd be expected to go to FHQ or their base station and collect a force vehicle. I have firends and acquaintances who are flexi duty roles in the FRS and ambulance service and their vehicles with warning devices are lease cars supplied through the service

Yes, slight miswording on my part - by "own" I meant not a liveried force vehicle that is booked out as a pool vehicle.

Hollywood police of course usually have a magnetic rotating lamp they stick on the roof for those high speed chases. I guess we can thank Frank Drebin for that.