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Original poster

Can police / other emergency services use blue lights when they like?

48 replies

BonesInTheOcean · 05/11/2021 19:43

Can police / other emergency services use blue lights when they like? If they're a bit late for their tea?

Also in line of duty when they are doing the arresting other police-y people, they say "I have been in consultation with...." do they have to go and speak to someone?

OP posts:
bonfireheart · 05/11/2021 19:44

No to first question

winesolveseverything · 05/11/2021 19:47

Absolutely no no no to the first question.
Instant sackable offence.

MauveMavis · 05/11/2021 19:48

No.

When I worked for an NHS organisation moving critically ill patients between hospitals we had very strict criteria about when we could use blue lights.

Driving on blue lights and not following traffic signals is actually pretty risky for the crews (some of the driving I saw when on the way out to jobs and I got to sit in the front was jaw droopingly terrible). I know several doctors and nurses who have been seriously injured in an ambulance crash when working in similar roles.

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Nyxs · 05/11/2021 19:49

No to the first.

Not sure I understand the second one.

holidaynearlyover · 05/11/2021 19:55

Did you really think they could use them to go and grab a cuppa 🙄

Jabvribt · 05/11/2021 19:59

Police cars have to get permission I thought.
I’ve been in ambulances that have had blue lights on and ones that haven’t and they always seem to think it through and consider risk to themselves and the public

TheCanyon · 05/11/2021 20:02

I saw a brilliant thread on the reddit sub r/policeuk yesterday (I think) with someone asking what the different sirens meant

www.reddit.com/r/policeuk/comments/qmfu6i/the_different_sound_from_police_sirens_why/

Redglitter · 05/11/2021 20:04

Police cars have to get permission I thought

No they don't.

Eltonsglasses · 05/11/2021 20:04

I don't understand the second question either

RunningFromInsanity · 05/11/2021 20:05

No, my BIL is a paramedic and he was transporting a patient from one hospital to another (non urgent), he got stuck in a traffic jam for nearly 2 hours and wasn’t allowed to use his blues to get through.

Clymene · 05/11/2021 20:07

Oh this has made me feel retrospectively sad. When my baby had RSV, they bluelighted him and told me it was just because they could and he wasn't really in urgent need of oxygen.

I believed them Sad

WoodburnersRUs · 05/11/2021 20:07

I have seen them just switch them on in a rage to get through very long queues at temp traffic lights. Last seen at Stow on the Wold…. I caught up with the same car going along not fast at all -after having them sit behind me looking very fed up.

Unihorn · 05/11/2021 20:08

For the second I assume you mean like CPS?

PivotPivotPivottt · 05/11/2021 20:11

I was in an ambulance with my then 6 month old and they drove normally until they got to a busy roundabout then they hit the siren so they could get through and joked that it comes in handy. They were a great team and were joking with me the full way there to keep me calm so I don't know whether they actually put it on just to skip the traffic but they weren't in a massive hurry to get us to the hospital before or after that.

SilenceOfThePrams · 05/11/2021 20:15

@Clymene

Oh this has made me feel retrospectively sad. When my baby had RSV, they bluelighted him and told me it was just because they could and he wasn't really in urgent need of oxygen.

I believed them Sad

Ah don’t be sad. They did what they needed to do to get your precious baby to hospital whilst keeping you as calm as they could - calming you down helped your baby too as if they’d told you how seriously ill he was and you’d panicked, your baby would have picked up on that which would have made his breathing much more tricky. And so on.

They told my daughter they were putting the lights on because their dinner was getting cold. Made her laugh and stopped her worrying about the major injury she had going on and concentrate on poor paramedics with cold chips rather than the resus team assembled and waiting at the other end.

Not saying you would have panicked btw -but they couldn’t have known that so the best thing was to just keep things as light as possible and hand him over to the hospital team as quickly as they could.

PetticoatSoldier · 05/11/2021 20:19

[quote TheCanyon]I saw a brilliant thread on the reddit sub r/policeuk yesterday (I think) with someone asking what the different sirens meant

www.reddit.com/r/policeuk/comments/qmfu6i/the_different_sound_from_police_sirens_why/[/quote]

You are my kinda person. Thank you for this nee naaawing, woo woo'ing gift!

Clymene · 05/11/2021 20:26

Aww thank you @SilenceOfThePrams (fantastic username!) - that's very kind of you. It was years ago but I've always believed it. My child is teenage now Smile

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 05/11/2021 20:27

I work for an organisation who become a Cat 1 responder in certain circumstances. We have detachable blue lights stored at work to use if we need them. There are very strict rules about when we can use them. Making our way home down the M62 at teatime is not one of those times.

Original poster
BonesInTheOcean · 05/11/2021 20:34

dammit - can't find it

when they are arresting a fellow officer on LOD they say "I have been in consultation with the xxxx and they are satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for arrest" etc this is very annoying

OP posts:
saraclara · 05/11/2021 20:58

Heh. I've no idea now. But when I was in my early teens (a long time ago) I was an inpatient at one (children's) hospital, and had to be taken by ambulance to see a consultant at another. One of the nurses on my ward had to accompany me. The appointment and the wait took longer than expected, and well beyond her shift ended. When we set off back to the children's hospital in the ambulance, she mentioned that she was going to be late for a date. So they put the lights and siren on so they could get her back as quickly as they could.

For fifty years, I've recalled that when I've seen an ambulance speed by with its sirens on. It's stopped me feeling anxious for the person inside.

So don't anyone else tell me it's not allowed these days!

winesolveseverything · 05/11/2021 21:21

@WoodburnersRUs

I have seen them just switch them on in a rage to get through very long queues at temp traffic lights. Last seen at Stow on the Wold…. I caught up with the same car going along not fast at all -after having them sit behind me looking very fed up.
You may think that's what you saw- but it won't have been the case.

I've been sitting in traffic and passed a 999 call- probably looked exactly like you described but very much genuine.
Yesterday I was passed 7 jobs in a row, then stood down a minute or 2 later- drove around for an hour with blue lights going on and off before control finally decided what they actually wanted us to do and we finally reached somewhere.

Unihorn · 05/11/2021 21:44

@BonesInTheOcean

dammit - can't find it

when they are arresting a fellow officer on LOD they say "I have been in consultation with the xxxx and they are satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for arrest" etc this is very annoying

Yes that would be CPS I assume. www.cps.gov.uk/about-cps/cps-areas-cps-direct-cps-central-casework-divisions-and-cps-proceeds-crime
Nyxs · 05/11/2021 21:59

@BonesInTheOcean

dammit - can't find it

when they are arresting a fellow officer on LOD they say "I have been in consultation with the xxxx and they are satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for arrest" etc this is very annoying

They mean the CPS. So yes they would have spoken to them.

Did you just think they make it up? Why is it annoying?

Also what's LOD?

Original poster
BonesInTheOcean · 05/11/2021 22:06

@Nyxs

LOD = Line of Duty
Annoying = because I cannot find the reference I am looking for

OP posts:
Nyxs · 05/11/2021 22:12

[quote BonesInTheOcean]@Nyxs

LOD = Line of Duty
Annoying = because I cannot find the reference I am looking for[/quote]
Ah...I see that makes sense now. I get what you are saying

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