Huge Police Escort - m40 today

[Liondoesntsleepatnight]

Did anyone see it? Northbound between Oxford and Cherwell Valley at around 1330?

traffic stopped, entrance blocked, loads of motorbikes, black SUV’s, Black range rovers all with blacked out windows, about 30 vehicles, plus a helicopter.

Wonder who it was for? I assumed Royalty but I’ve seen them before in London and on motorways and the entourage was nothing like this, no helicopter either.

He did a press conference and met with Lammy in his offical residence they talked about Ukraine, Gaza, etc. We knew he was coming days ago. If it was just a holiday I'd agree with your but this is how American Presidents and VPs do it (even though I hate Vance it's the same for them all).

It was reportedly in the region of between,£5 million to £7 Million .

That will explain the stains on the couches at DFS in Bicester village

Ridiculous. Why does one of the vehicles appear to be towing a kebab van? Classy.

Surely JD Vance - American security travels in huge numbers

I meant "golf" not gold!

Trump' now has his very own super-duper armoured golf buggy is called Golf Force One 😊

JD Vance went to Hampton. court palace, are

No, he's taking a diversion along the M4 to South Wales specifically for the fishing trip. He's been assured that they take secrecy surrounding fishing trips EXTREMELY seriously there.

He arrived in the morning, the palace was closed to the public.

As ridiculous and overblown as this all is, I have to say that one thing that's extremely precious to me is my anonymity and complete lack of any importance to anybody except for my family and friends.

It's actually a tremendous advantage to be able to do whatever boring, mundane things you like at any time - and nobody cares at all.

Ah, I drove past a MASSIVE motorcade on the A22 this morning at about 9.45 - that would explain what it was, we were trying to work out who the hell needed that much security!

Surely there comes a time when the balance is tipped that, if you genuinely feel that you need that much security when you go to a foreign country to discuss things with their high-up people... maybe just use Zoom?!

When we were on Washington DC years ago we were told that the Pres always had three helicopters in the air, no-one knew which he was in for security. I hate it when an American big-wig lands at Lakenheath, causes traffic chaos.

Vance probably went a different way in an Uber, the convoy being to distract attention!

The late Queen definitely travelled with significantly less, even when her route and destination was publicly known ahead of time.

The late Queen had Major Johnny. What more did she need?

(Image pending)

I remember Mike Pence's heli/motorcade through Sydney (good luck there, mate! haha) in 2017 (or pos 2018). It was considerably more subdued than yesterday's for Vance but still enough to make us stop and look.

Trump is very fond of both

He would have been safer in a Vauxhall Astra. Nobody would have batted an eyelid. Talk about drawing attention to yourself!

You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do....

I saw the late Queen once, she had two motorcyclist outriders and a single police SUV. Normal windows, you could see her clearly. She happened to be smiling too! Zero fuss or drama.

Don't wind! Don't wind!

When I worked at British Gas Marble Arch office. it was opposite a cinema (which I learn was the Regal)

One day the underground car park wasn't available (I mean who drives into central London anyway ?!) because of a Royal event of some sort.

There was no notice which caused some upset. Quite a Republican day 😀

If they do checks anyway what's the point of knocking on doors?
I'd be beyond pissed off if US SS knocked on my door and started demanding to know who I am. I would delight in shutting the door in their face though. What they going do about it? Arrest me for sitting at home and minding my own business?

*in reality, I'd be so dumbstruck and bewildered by such an encounter I'd probably just answer all the questions. I just like to think I'd be brave enough to tell them to FO 😁

What if the residents of those flats just refused to go? Under what law can they then be dragged out of their own homes?

I have no doubt that emergency powers can be invoked. (This was in France, for what it's worth.) But I wasn't close to the organisation of the event at the time. Maybe they were offered the choice between a couple of nights in a 4-star hotel, or being searched by a police officer every time they opened their front door, or told that if they appeared in their window within an hour of the President's arrival they might be shot by anti-terrorist police.

During the 2012 London Olympics there were anti-aircraft missiles deployed around the stadium. Those come down as well as go up. (The Olympics makes the Secret Service look like amateurs when it comes to suspending civil liberties around the event. The host city basically delegates the rule of law to the IOC for the duration.)

I saw a motorcade for the Chinese premier going through the CBD of Sydney once too. It was pretty long and had ambulances as well! I agree it was quite entertaining to watch.