In praise of... coppers on bikes

[winjim]

On the way back from work today in the car, I saw a driver make the most ludicrous manoeuvre. We were waiting at a spot where there is always a queue at rush hour. It's a two way residential street which becomes a one way into a left turn only to join the main road. Everybody was waiting their turn when a driver mounted the pavement behind us on the right and drove about 50 yards along it, between the parked cars and the houses and across a side road, to cut into the queue about three cars ahead of us. He wasn't hanging around either, must have been doing at least 20mph along the pavement.

My wife was in the car so she tried to get a photo of the car so we could report it when we got home, when in a fantastic display of timing who should appear but two coppers on bikes. I pulled over and told them what had happened, meanwhile my wife had got the number plate so we gave them the details and off they went to apprehend the miscreant. As we turned into the main road we saw that they had indeed caught up with the chap and were subjecting him to the question.

What's great about this was them being on bikes. Had they been on foot, they might not have been able to catch up with the car, as while I was busy talking to them it was disappearing down the road. Had they been in a car they would have been stuck in the queue with the rest of us and also unable to catch up. So a bike was exactly the right mode of transport for them to be able to get through the traffic to catch this guy and give him the stern talking to he so richly deserved.

 

[mjr]

Yep. I'm told that we still have more police on bikes near me than many places, from the obvious ones on the bikes that say POLICE and have a black-and-white checkerboard pattern, to plainclothes ones doing surveillance. Tales of police cyclists actually seen detaining motorists for traffic law-breaking are rare but fairly often repeated

 

[MontyVeda]

...more police on bikes near me than many places...

They're on to you!

 

[mjr]

They're on to you!

Not spoken to them officially for a few years. Probably overdue

 

[steveindenmark]

I used to be a cycle policeman in Milton Keynes. Great for catching burglars on the redways at night.

 

[Brandane]

give him the stern talking to he so richly deserved.

A stern talking to? He richly deserved to have his driving licence ripped up in front of him; his car destroyed there and then with some audience participation involved; and for him to be carted off to the local cells for a little lie down to give him time to see the error of his ways. Then he might think twice the next time.

 

[winjim]

A stern talking to? He richly deserved to have his driving licence ripped up in front of him; his car destroyed there and then with some audience participation involved; and for him to be carted off to the local cells for a little lie down to give him time to see the error of his ways. Then he might think twice the next time.

I agree, trouble is the only actual evidence the police have is what I told them, and they didn't take my name or anything on account of needing to get after the guy. There's an outside chance there might be some CCTV I suppose.

By the time we rejoined and then got out of the queue some time had passed and they had the car weirdly facing the other way on the road than you'd expect from a left turn, so I don't know what went on there. From the looks on their faces they were taking it pretty seriously. I do wonder if all the guy's paperwork was in order.

 

[Brandane]

I do wonder if all the guy's paperwork was in order.

Hopefully he was disqualified, drunk, boot full of class A drugs, and wanted on warrant for all sorts of historical offences.