Anyone run an exploding Beemer?

[Pale Rider]

In normal use, driving the car at normal road speeds will heat the oil enough to evaporate the fuel from the oil again, no harm done. In this case though (my perception is) we see a long idle time followed by full power, so the oil is thinned down and then not given the chance to gently simmer before being asked to work hard.

So thrashing the thing from cold is bad, as is thrashing it after a long idle.

I suppose not many private motorists idle their cars for long periods, but still worth knowing whether you are a copper or not.

I wonder if mostly idling in a bad traffic jam - which lots of owners will do - is enough to trigger this effect.

 

[Drago]

Is there an a accompanying exception to the ‘quitting’ offence of leaving a car idling whilst unattended?

Yes, the dibble have a fistful of road traffic act exemptions where operationally necessary. Good question though.

 

[Pale Rider]

Yes, the dibble have a fistful of road traffic act exemptions where operationally necessary. Good question though.

Although as one or two coppers have found to their cost, dangerous driving and the various death by offences are not among the exemptions.

 

[Drago]

Yes, a couple in the media recently. One in particular sticks out as she was exceeding her driving authority at the time, so rightly got stiffed over it.

But that aside they're held to the same legal standard as the every day motorists, which is odd to say the least considering their training and exemptions. Trained to do all sorts of stuff but when they do it and it goes wrong, even if the bobby themselves was following their training to the letter, they face being measured against the same legal standard of below or seriously below that of a careful and competent driver. What careful and competent driver would be pursuing someone or doing 140 on the motorway in the first place?

There were steps afoot to change the law to recognise this, but not following politics or giving a sheet what politicians get up to I don't know where it went.

When Ipin RPU I used my own judgement - "I'm not risking my my licence or liberty for that sheet" would often go through my mind and would drive normally. The inspector hated it when us older hands did that, but it's our licences and we can't be ordered otherwise.

In the end I quit RPU over it and was moved to a community team as a punishment posting (strange punishment, because I loved it there and never working nights was joyful) but that's a tale for another day.

When people tell you RPU is a glamour job or an elite posting they're talking out their behinds. It hasn't been since maybe the 70s at the latest, and getting enough candidates who want to do it these days can be tricky as they all want to go into CID because they've all got degrees and aren't interested in drty front line stuff for a minute longer than they have to.

 

[Pale Rider]

What careful and competent driver would be pursuing someone or doing 140 on the motorway in the first place?

I've always thought the general legal attitude to police pursuits is something of a fudge, fine if nothing happens, let's hang the polis driver out to dry if it does.

 

[Drago]

You've pretty much summed it up.

Sod it, I'll tells ya. One night shift I got sent to an RTA, as they were then. It was foggy as foxtrot, like driving inside a golf ball.

I put the strobes on but the light simply flashed back off the fog and was blinding me, so I had to switch them off and drive at well below the speed limit.

I informed the control room that I was attending but would be a while as I was 20 miles off and the conditions were appalling. The control room inspector then tried to order to to put my strobes on and drive at response speeds but I reiterated the above and refused.

The inspector again ordered and I again refused.

The RPU skipper from the neighbouring division came up on air and told the Inspector that it was not a lawful order and that I should proceed as I felt safest under the circumstances, and that he could not lawfully order me otherwise.

This was a fairly public embarrassment for the Inspector as everyone on duty would have heard the put down from the traffic skipper, so he put in a complaint to professional standards about me refusing an order. I was completely exonerated (although it took nearly 3 months the for some inexplicable reason - 60 seconds listening the the control room audio recordings would have confirmed it then and there) but Iwas so pithed off with idiots in warm buildings miles away who weren't class 1 drivers themselves trying to second guess me that I quit the team.

And now the idiot inspector with such wonderful insight and judgement concerned is ACPO rank with TVP! You couldn't make it up.

 

[Pale Rider]

Something similar happened to me in my game.

I was ordered to approach a story in a certain way which I knew would end badly for me if it screwed up.

So, as a tired old hack with a plenty of years on the clock, I refused.

The news editor making the request simply asked one of the younger ones to do it, who he judged would be too inexperienced and/or too timid to make a fuss.

Backing a job is not something a I did lightly, because there can be unpleasant repercussions.

To be fair to the news editor in this case, he decided to draw a line under it and move on.

 

[biggs682]

Police car engines are ragged from stone cold to the redline daily, which is never good for longevity.

That said, the typical BMW driver also rags their car from stone cold to the redline daily.

And doesn't use the indicators

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

It's called run lock. Keeps the engine running to power the lights, radio, anpr computer etc, but won't allow the vehicle to be driven. T
RPU cars in particular spend a long time idling under run lock.

Hadn't though of that - good point!

 

[figbat]

So thrashing the thing from cold is bad, as is thrashing it after a long idle.

I suppose not many private motorists idle their cars for long periods, but still worth knowing whether you are a copper or not.

I wonder if mostly idling in a bad traffic jam - which lots of owners will do - is enough to trigger this effect.

Yes and yes to your first two statements. But a long idle is a looooooong idle. In fact there is (or was) a qualifying engine test for oils that did exactly that - lots of idling followed by full power. It was a tough test. It’s the sort of thing that construction and agricultural vehicles also have to deal with.

 

[T4tomo]

You don't, by any chance, run a BMW 330d do you?

Never have and never will own a beemer

 

[Drago]

That's because beemers are motorbikes. The cars are Bimmers.