Criticism and Praise for the Police

[Topaz]

I am a regular traveller on the A38 around the Derby area. Last week I was held up for at least half hour by a breakdown where a van was almost off the road on the grass verge protected by a police car and loads of cones closing one carriageway. My first thought was why not get out of your car and push it a bit further to allow the road to open

However this morning a totally different experience as a police car was towing a broken down car out of the way and the traffic wasn't held up at all - why can't it always be like that

Mike

[Paul240480]

The 'towing bobby' imo used common sense, if it was safe to remove the vehicle etc etc.

The other bobby probably followed the 'book' where by if you choose to tow with your patrol car and it go's 'pear shaped' the 'powers that be' will throw the book at ya' .

Policing was very much based upon 'common sense' & 'the correct use discretion' . Sadly these days the option of discretion has been all but removed & using common sense over 'the correct laid down procedure' leaves you open to explaining your reasons to a senior officer. Been there, done it & after 15yrs told em' to 'poke it'.

Sad thing was that I, like many actually enjoyed the job before 'they' 'tightened the screws'

[mr rusty]

protected by a police car and loads of cones closing one carriageway.

... a fuel spillage maybe or setting up some protection in readiness for a recovery crew somewhere behind you? Could be any number of reasons..I would imagine most traffic cops would want to keep traffic moving if at all possible.

[OneCarefulOwner]

There's all kinds of whys & wherefores. You don't know what the problem was with the first vehicle; it could have been immobilised by internal faults that would have rendered towing impossible, or at least inadvisable.

Last time a 3.5T truck carrying half a dozen portaloos broke down near me it was at the front of a lane right by a pedestrian crossing, with only the inside bus lane open to normal traffic; this meant that a lot of impatient drivers were "overtaking" blind, on the zigzags, & heading straight at oncoming vehicles!. The bobbies that eventually turned up had no facility to move the truck as their panda car was nowhere near powerful enough; they actually had to consider pushing it uphill for 50 yards, which with just 2 of them would have been near-suicidal. Luckily I'd passed the scene earlier on foot, walked home & got my barge & my beefy towropes, and they happily accepted my offer of dragging it out of the way far enough to allow both lanes to reopen (by coasting it into the bus stop 100 yards over the brow) after satisfying themselves that I knew the gross weight of the truck & was willing to take the risk to my vehicle. Once we had shifted this truck, it went from bad to worse for the poor guy driving it as it then lost even the ability to power the hazard lights!