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[JamesV6CDX]

Whist I still maintain the C3 driver is a daftie...

It's still taught me that you can never be too careful, and never know who is watching!!

When you think about how much you rely on your licence, and how easy it would be to lose...

Food for thought. Next time I will bite my tongue and arrive 10 minutes later if needsbe!

[Jay w]

I was driving along the M4 this morning, about 11am. Two lane traffic.

I was in lane 2, and was approaching a tiny black Citroen C2. It was doing a really annoying speed of about 66mph, and wasn't making much progress towards overtaking anything. It had a clear, sufficient gap in lane one to move over - but it would not budge over to let me by.

Keeping a good distance - I gave a brief light flash. He looked in his mirror and saw it, but still didn't move over.

To cut a long story short, he seemed to be refusing to move over (I had a que of cars behind me also wanting to pass him).

I must hold up my hand to the fact that I was getting a little bit frustrated. I ended up getting far too close to the citroen - probably in the realms of tailgaiting. I gave a couple more light flashes which the driver saw, and made a (friendly) hand gesture that I wanted to pass.

All I was greeted by was a dab on his brakes, and again refusal to move to lane 1.

At one point he made as if he was going to move over, but then changed his mind, causing me to have to ease off, after preparing to pass him.

When he finally did move over, and I passed him, I was rather horrified. In the little Citroen, was the unmistaken presence of two uniformed police officers. And I had been effectively trying to "encourage" them out of my way for about 3 miles  

The officer made a very clear hand signal to me that he was furious, and as I pulled back in front he flashed his headlights at me. Being in a personal car I guess he couldn't pull me over, but still, I expect he noted the VRM, and I'm really not looking forward to any consequenses.

I'm not sure exactly what they can do when not in the "works" vehicle, but I'm guessing someone will pay me a visit very soon.

Bottom line is, I shouldn't have got so close behind it, and I hold my hand up to that. And I know it's not a valid defence, but I would expect a police officer to drive in such a manner that doesn't confuse and impede the progress of motorway traffic  

Any thoughts on how this might pan out, would be interesting  :-/

looking at what you said here there are a few things that jump out at me.

He was occupying lane 2 when lane 1 was free, if this was the case then i believe this is an offence

I don't believe there is anything in the law that says you cannot flash someone to gain their attention (the first flash you did) however getting a bit close may be seen as being intimidating.

isn't a 'brake test' illegal? Bruucie might be able to clear that one up, i was under the impression that at the least doing a brake test is viewed with a lot of contempt by traffic officers

if the police to visit then say it as it happened, that's all you can do mate

[JamesV6CDX]

It wasn't a "brake test"... more of a dab on the brakes / flash of his brake lights. Probably to tell me to back off.

But yes, if it could be proved somone deliberately "brake tested" a following motorist, and especially if they caused an accident, I would imagine that would fall into dangerous / reckless driving catagories.. and would definately attract a dim view from a good traffic officer..

[Martin_1962]

Report him now - phone up the Police NOW and report them for bad driving

[JamesV6CDX]

Report him now - phone up the Police NOW and report them for bad driving

It would be fruitless - I didn't take his VRM

[Jay w]

It wasn't a "brake test"... more of a dab on the brakes / flash of his brake lights. Probably to tell me to back off.

But yes, if it could be proved somone deliberately "brake tested" a following motorist, and especially if they caused an accident, I would imagine that would fall into dangerous / reckless driving catagories.. and would definately attract a dim view from a good traffic officer..

the point is James why did he do that if the inside lane was clear? it strikes me that he was trying to provoke and dabbing the brakes/flashing the lights is another way of doing that.....

I would go with what Martin has just said, if you have the details then report him for driving like a muppet

[Martin_1962]

Driving like that - no chance of anything happeneing, report them anyway as impersonating Police officers.

I have reported crap Police drivers many times and will continue to do so

[Danny]

honestly i still cant see what you personally did wrong!

common sense and decency would dictate that if you're driving below the speed limit, your left lane is empty, and you have a progressive tailback behind you, you move over out of courtesy!  To dab on the brakes, then "think about" changing lanes and move back as if changing your mind just to annoy the following motorist, is just blatent childishness and if that's the kind of police we're relying on to help us when we need them, its not a good picture is it

[Jay w]

the worse that could come out of this is a visit from the boys in blue and a statement being taken.

this sounds like a bit of tit for tat /winding up

he's being a dick in lane 2, you ask him to move over
he spits dummy out, dabs brakes, you get closer

6 of one half dozen of the other, i can't see how anyone would try and make an offense stick

sorry if i have made it sound less than it was, just cutting it back to its simplest

[ians]

Are you sure they were police officers and not prison wardens or security guards or even a couple of guys in fancy dress.

... or male strippers..

now you'll be worried if they pay you a visit

[Nickbat]

[/quote]
Thing is - he wouldn't be allowed to pull me over if he's in his personal shopping trolly car with no blues...
[/quote]

I'm sure someone will confirm this, but I think he would be allowed to pull you over - or at least try. There are plenty of unmarked police vehicles out there and provided they had their warrant cards on them and they are in uniform , it doesn't matter what mode of transport they are using. A PC on a bike could pull you over and claiming the bike was his own and not police issue wouldn't make any difference in court, IMHO.

But, as I said earlier, I don't think they were police officers.  

[Kevin Wood]

Just a reminder that there are some idiots on the road and it's best to leave them behind without compromising yourself and not to get worked up over them.

Had one 10 mins ago on the way back from work. Overtook him perfectly safely on a dual carriageway, a good 2 car lengths in front I indicate to pull in as we came to end of dual carriageway and he decided that I wasn't going to be pulling in in front of him and accelerated up my inside.

Temptation was to floor it and create a log jam where the road narrows to single, but tried to stop red mist descending and pulled in behind. He can continue to drive his company car policy-dictated Passat TDi repmobile like that until he does it to an unmarked cop car as far as I'm concerned.

Kevin

[Martin_1962]

Just a reminder that there are some idiots on the road and it's best to leave them behind without compromising yourself and not to get worked up over them.

Had one 10 mins ago on the way back from work. Overtook him perfectly safely on a dual carriageway, a good 2 car lengths in front I indicate to pull in as we came to end of dual carriageway and he decided that I wasn't going to be pulling in in front of him and accelerated up my inside.

Temptation was to floor it and create a log jam where the road narrows to single, but tried to stop red mist descending and pulled in behind. He can continue to drive his company car policy-dictated Passat TDi repmobile like that until he does it to an unmarked cop car as far as I'm concerned.

Kevin

You should have flashed him - advantage of driving an Omega - people still think they are Police cars

[Taxi_Driver]

Thing is - he wouldn't be allowed to pull me over if he's in his personal shopping trolly car with no blues...
[/quote]

I'm sure someone will confirm this, but I think he would be allowed to pull you over - or at least try. There are plenty of unmarked police vehicles out there and provided they had their warrant cards on them and they are in uniform , it doesn't matter what mode of transport they are using. A PC on a bike could pull you over and claiming the bike was his own and not police issue wouldn't make any difference in court, IMHO.

But, as I said earlier, I don't think they were police officers.  [/quote]

But they always have hidden blues and twos and aint citroen c2's  

[robby30]

I cannot see any traffic officer brake testing you on the motorway or hogging lane 2 or 3, we have to deal with the results of such stupid actions
you can use your headlights to 'warn others of your presence' and im sure thats what you were doing.
its likley to have been a couple of shift officers going to court or something and i would not worry about it too much. easy for me to say! most of them dont know how to complete the required forms for a careless driving and dont worry about it
Perhaps they were giving an appreciation flash to thank you for pointing out their error
whatever you will know in 14 days max!