lizard:
Didnt read that the 1st time I read the article, and I didnt even know we had a patrolling firearms team over here in Norfolk/Suffolk.
Back in the day (i.e. before about 1990) UK police were pretty much 100% unarmed. Firearms were kept securely at police stations and any time an incident required an armed response, the “authorised shots” currently on duty had to be recalled from whatever they were doing, go back to the station and get weapons issued by the Duty Inspector, then attend the scene. This all took time - easily an hour in a rural area. Then in 1987 a bloke called Michael Ryan went off the rails in Hungerford, killing 16 people. This (among other incidents) was the catalyst that changed things - the weapons are still kept under lock and key, but now they are in vehicles out on patrol. The crews still patrol unarmed, and deal with the routine traffic stuff - but when the ■■■■ hits the fan they can be at scene within minutes. Arming up still requires authorisation by a senior officer.
So you don’t really have a patrolling firearms team - what you do have is patrolling officers who can very quickly become armed if needed. In most county forces, it makes sense to have these officers operating under “Traffic” as this leaves them free to respond/patrol without the usual territorial constraints (and their big/fast cars look just like any other “Traffic” car).
manski:
commonrail:
Approved route was through flint,prestatyn and rhyl town centre. 
And you came out of all 3 unscathed ? 
Well done
Well his diff lost half its teeth, the trailer caught syphilis and his unit is now motability registered but apart from that…
Roymondo:
So you don’t really have a patrolling firearms team - what you do have is patrolling officers who can very quickly become armed if needed. In most county forces, it makes sense to have these officers operating under “Traffic” as this leaves them free to respond/patrol without the usual territorial constraints (and their big/fast cars look just like any other “Traffic” car).
I’ll bear that in mind next time I see a policeman by himself in Morrison’s in black jump suit, stab vest, enough kit hanging off him to open a fetish shop and a glock strapped to his thigh looking like a wannabe paramilitary in front of me in the queue with a sandwich in his hand.
Just give it a wide berth.
billybigrig:
Check out @NSRAPT’s Tweet: twitter.com/NSRAPT/status/11039 … 97536?s=09
Read the replies and you’ll see one of them was more a simple error by a respected haulier and experienced driver(not me BTW) than a flagrent disregarding of the law.
Or you could just continue to speculate and condemn in ignorance
Well at least I know if I need a boat shifting there’s someone cheaper than boatshiftsimon
Suedehead:
Just give it a wide berth.
ermmmm 2 out of 10 for effort 
I know that road well, its narrow in places and got some nice blind bends. Think they was a few brown under pants with the people coming the other way
elsa Lad:
I know that road well, its narrow in places and got some nice blind bends. Think they was a few brown under pants with the people coming the other way
If it’s where I think it is, the local good old boys like to take their half of the road out of the middle!
cav551:
It should definitely be tea and biscuits with the TC. The Abnormal Loads regs form an important part of the TM’s CPC course.
What?
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I can’t see the boat or trailer properly, but escorts are not always necessary, a second man is often all it needs, compulsory police escorts ended when god was a lad
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Wheel Nut:
I can’t see the boat or trailer properly, but escorts are not always necessary, a second man is often all it needs, compulsory police escorts ended when god was a lad
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Who mentioned police escorts (compulsory or otherwise)?
Roymondo:
Wheel Nut:
I can’t see the boat or trailer properly, but escorts are not always necessary, a second man is often all it needs, compulsory police escorts ended when god was a lad
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Who mentioned police escorts (compulsory or otherwise)?
Sean Burke did
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Wheel Nut:
I can’t see the boat or trailer properly, but escorts are not always necessary, a second man is often all it needs, compulsory police escorts ended when god was a lad
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I’d much rather run with an ■■■■■■ vehicle than a second man any day. Fully freighted artics flying at you unaware of your presence til last min is bad enough on single carriageway with a 10ft load on going unescorted…12ft and above wouldn’t stand a chance with no ■■■■■■, you’d have smashes galore. Our second men are brilliant at squeezing you into places with inches to spare but there’s nothing they could do to warn oncoming traffic like an ■■■■■■ van.
Wheel Nut:
Roymondo:
Wheel Nut:
I can’t see the boat or trailer properly, but escorts are not always necessary, a second man is often all it needs, compulsory police escorts ended when god was a lad
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Who mentioned police escorts (compulsory or otherwise)?
Sean Burke did
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I have no idea who Sean Burke is, but I don’t see any mention of police escorts by anyone other than yourself.
Wheel Nut:
I can’t see the boat or trailer properly, but escorts are not always necessary, a second man is often all it needs, compulsory police escorts ended when god was a lad
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It depends on the rules of particular police Force area you are in. Many forces including Essex, Norfolk & Suffolk insist on a ■■■■■■ when over 3.5m wide
whelmic:
Wheel Nut:
I can’t see the boat or trailer properly, but escorts are not always necessary, a second man is often all it needs, compulsory police escorts ended when god was a lad
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It depends on the rules of particular police Force area you are in. Many forces including Essex, Norfolk & Suffolk insist on a ■■■■■■ when over 3.5m wide
Nottinghamshire allow up to 4.8 on some roads and 4.3 on the others so I agree
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I know a bit about one of these loads. I can’t comment on the V8 pulling the cat but the other cruiser was being transported without any notification being submitted. So I think the chap got nicked for over width, over length, ineffective mirror which had a prohibition placed on him for and he was also done for an insecure load (a ladder on the rear of the cab held there with a bungee strap). There is probably more offenses but thats all I know.
He was told that he could not move the load until he got his mirrors sorted and got the truck MOT’d to lift the prohibition. He is a Kent based haulier and the truck in question is a P cab M reg Scania 93, so its no wonder he couldn’t see behind him. This all took place on Thursday afternoon so one can assume that the boat was sat on the trailer which is some sort of converted drag trailer able to be towed behind his unit, probably like a car transporter type of thing. I heard over the weekend that the boat had been delivered on Friday morning to its destination near Yarmouth?
Now thats good going, Thursday PM ex-Norfolk back to Kent, sort mirrors, present for MOT and back to Norfolk to deliver on Friday morning■■? Don’t know how the notification with 2 full days notice was crammed into that?
Enough said I think…TC needs to send an invitation and DVSA should pay a home visit. As one of the other posters said, this is not the first time he’s done this for sure and circumventing the regs and working for cash has Billy Public lining up to have their boats moved on the cheap, so what chance do we have running 100% legal?
i wonder how many drivers in the real world would be quite happy securing a wee ladder to the back of the cab with a bungee strap.
looks like just another overkill ott nit picking jobsworth deal again
Mikey D:
Was it you I saw the other day in lay by on A55 yellow dad cf tractor unit , flat trailer and beard
Never seen a trailer with a beard!
dieseldog999:
i wonder how many drivers in the real world would be quite happy securing a wee ladder to the back of the cab with a bungee strap.
looks like just another overkill ott nit picking jobsworth deal again
I think plod was just making a point and was out to [zb] this cowboy wholesale…