It’s been in the news this week about the new highway patrol department at Wakefield opening. Just wonders about other opinions as to weather there a good thing or not?
Come on lets just admit it there all wannabe coppers, and would have been if they had an ‘O’ level.
There a dam menace. Dawdling along at 50 mph. Joe public crawling past thinking their proper coppers. It said on the news that the police welcome the move as the public welcome the uniformed presence (ye right!).
I watched them filming on the bridge above Wolly Edge services the other day, it was funny as hell! The bloke was stood ready to film the patrol as it headed north. Then shot across the road to catch it disappear. How the hell that car missed him I’ll never know.
“Control to whisky foxtrot”
Willie and Fred receiving over
“reports of person laying in lane 2 northbound and tripod wreckage in lane 1 southbound”
Willy and Fred to control, no can do were deployed to the BBC today, do you think I’ll meet Christa Ackroyd? Over.
I posted a while since how they shut a lane on the M5 and caused traffic chaos when a horse box had a near side puncture on the hard shoulder. I’m convinced they did just to show off there bright new cones.
I suppose they will help free up the real copper’s to get on with their other duties.
And did you know that they are the only guy’s that can officially close lanes on the motorway’s etc.The normal coppers need them there to do it as they don’t have the authority.
I did look into, briefly, a while back, trying to get to be one of these guys, however, reading the blurb i received it appears it would be very difficult to get in unless you are ex motorway police.
What I have observed since then, is that whereas you used to get a broken down car on the hard shoulder, just sitting there minding its own business awaiting recovery, all 3 lanes just sailed past at their usual 55, 70, 80-90, almost oblivious.
Now, one of these crews will park up behind them, lit up like Blackpool Illuminations (they’re on NOW, plug plug ), cones out & all. What happens? All the speeding car drivers think its plod, brake & you finish up with a 2 mile crawl just because of one car on the shoulder.
Was in a ridiculous tail back a few weeks ago on M1 N J26 all the way to just passed J28 all I could see was a police car with all the lights going on the hard shoulder ‘assisting’ a woman change a wheel.
Maybe this plod had given up on chasing a lorry doing in excess of 85mph and went for the easier option
Well I would agree, The result of these HATO’s (Highways Agency Traffic Officers) will mean that the only activity the Police will be carring out on Highways Agency property is enforcement matters. That means concentrating on speeding and the like.
Having worked the Birmingham area with these HATO’s they are universally hated by teh Motorway Police as they currently do not have a great deal of experience.
Conelayer
Driveroneuk:
All the speeding car drivers think its plod, brake & you finish up with a 2 mile crawl just because of one car on the shoulder.
I think you will find that people slow down to be nosey not because they might be police
How many police cars have you seen with amber and red lights?
They are there for safety reasons after all the hard shoulder is one of the most dangerous places to be,
Traffic slowing down at a breakdown can only be a good thing as less and less people tend to move over a lane when they see the amber flashing lights to give us a bit of a safety gap and thunder past on the limiter
I remember the most helpful of lorry drivers are the ones who stay in the inside lane and then blast there horns as they go by because i need the drivers door open to work on the vehicle, thanks thats very big and clever of you, you can move over a lane I can’t!
I for one think they are really good for people like me as they will stop behind a breakdown if in a dodgy area and keep an eye on things at the back as I sort the truck out
The only negative is they tend to stop for car breakdowns before they stop for truck breakdowns, but I can see that a truck on the hard shoulder is more visable due to its size than a car, so cars should really take priority, It would be more use if they would tow the cars off the motorway at the next junction or services but I would imagine that there are a million and one legal reasons against towing cars!!!
personally i think they are a good thing at the moment but i don’t wish to see them with more power than they have now.
it’ll be like the gateman at tesco coming to hassle you out on the road instead of waiting for you to turn up at HIS gate house at HIS tesco rdc 30 minutes before booking time or five minutes late.
perhaps if they do get more power it would be time for a job change, i could get quite used to cruising the motorways in a toyota landcruiser hassling truck drivers.
100% in favor, they’ve made a world of difference round the west midlands.
think about it, if you get a tyre go on the off side and can only pull onto the hard shoulder, would you want a tyre fitter to risk his life to get you going?
i hope that in time they wiil be equiped with the right tackle to clear accidents off the road instead of the motorways being blocked up for hours on end while a private contractor can get to the job.
100% in favor, they’ve made a world of difference round the west midlands.
think about it, if you get a tyre go on the off side and can only pull onto the hard shoulder, would you want a tyre fitter to risk his life to get you going?
Behind you all the way there m8,my lad has just been taken on with ATS @ Bellshill and he is often called out with another fitter to wagon’s on the motorway,and you know what car driver’s are like they will hadly ever pull out to give the fitter room to move.So yes i’m 100%behind these guy’s.
Have to say that I think they are a good idea. The other week going round the M25 from the M3 to Dartford I saw 4 accidents, all minor shunts being attended by these guys. Then I saw a 5th much more serious accident, this was being attended by about 4 Police and 3 Ambulances, the Police were where they were needed for once. As long as the powers they have stay as they are then they are a good idea, the problems will come if their powers are increased.
I think they WILL be a good idea once the public gets used to seeing them and stop clogging up the roads rubber necking as they pass
I also think that when the vosa units spot a stranded car and go to assist it, If they find it is some [zb]ing lazy ponce with a puncture they should drag them down the grass verge and beat the crap out of them idiots, FFS its not hard to change a wheel is it
funny you should mention that Simon. Had a major puncture in the car this a.m. R/N/S, not on the motorway. PIcked a largish bolt up straight thru’ a good tyre. Can only think it was stuck end up in a cats eye as i was changing lanes at the time & i didn’t see it.
Pulled in a bus laybye at 09.50 Pulled away, wheel changed just as the clock clicked 09.54
Thats 2 in 2 months now, different cars, same corner wheel, after no “on the road” punctures for over 10 years!
In principle, I should agree with these patrols, in practice I dont. On the French motorway system there are regular patrols by the motorway maintenance guys, who will close roads, move vehicles and offer assistance. They do not pretend to be Policemen.
It worries me that we have too many plastic policemen, (James Whales choice of words) in too many areas. We have privatised the Metropolitan Police parking wardens into a legalised thuggery, We have Highway Patrols and cameras enforcing road safety.
We have telephone banking run by Indians and now we have a central telephone number to ring to see if we are ill or not.
What next? sending a bloke out on a bike to see if your house is really on fire before letting a fire engine come and help.
All this is done in the name of saving money for the government coffers. Instead of employing all these new types of people, we should be increasing the numbers in our police forces, our nurses, and health workers. paying the firemen doctors, nurses what they are worth and employing more proper policemen.
Im all for road safety, but now we have all these new agencies, we also need some proper law enforcement.
If a car was spotted without a tax disc, a proper policeman would stop it and find that it was not insured, had a bald tyre and the driver was drunk. Now you get an automatic fine through the post and carry on driving it.
We have privatised the Metropolitan Police parking wardens into a legalised thuggery
Which reminds me: unusually had a night out in Manchester other Saturday.
At around 11.45 pm I observed 2 of these privatised “parking officers” or whatever they’re called now, busily ticketing cars that were parked where they weren’t causing any problems, but obviously, contravening some parking regulation.
yes, 11.45 on a wet saturday night!!! make your own mind up
I resisted a very strong urge to comment as i walked by.
), cones out & all. What happens? All the speeding car drivers think its plod, brake & you finish up with a 2 mile crawl just because of one car on the shoulder.
Maybe this plod had given up on chasing a lorry doing in excess of 85mph and went for the easier option 
