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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To get annoyed with a policeman

113 replies

AitchGee · 15/07/2011 17:21

I was stopped on the way back from collecting my boys from school, a trip of no more than about a mile. I pulled into our local supermarket, bought some gooey delights and left. Unbeknown to me, the local police had set up some sort of sunny-day sting on all the shoppers.

They stopped me. Pain in the butt, but what the hey, it's a job. So I answered a few banal questions, nothing was wrong, everything was in order.... Then it came "Sir, when did you have a drink last?" I replied that I had been drinking all afternoon. He asked me to blow into his pipe. I asked him what was wrong with drinking Vimto. Obviously I blew Zero

What got my goat was that as I haven't touched a single drop of alcohol since Dec 28th 2003 and gave up smoking some 12 months back, I could smell the distinctive odour of alcohol on his breadth as he was talking to me.

I asked him why he suspected me of driving under the influence of alcohol, he wouldn't respond. I asked him to tell me how many measures of alcohol he had consumed prior to picking on random shoppers (generally women). He suggested that I should mind my own business and be on my way.

I had my kids with me, so decided to slink away fuming. Suggesting that I may have been drinking alcohol, after all the effort abstaining over the years, I consider as an insult.

OP posts:

Pendeen · 19/07/2011 15:36

I think the suggestion that it was your poor driving that caught their interest is right.

Then your silly answer about drinking all afternoon (did you really think about that before you said it) was more than enough excuse for his subsequent actions.

Original poster

AitchGee · 19/07/2011 18:05

@Pendeen

I have every right to go about my lawful business without some joker in a blue uniform proving to me that he has a metaphorically huge penis. Your view about the poor driving is just a piece of wishy washy shite, spewed out for the benefit of your fellow mumsnet caterwaulers....I got 15 metres outside the car park, as did everyone else.

OP posts:

knittedbreast · 19/07/2011 18:12

oh please. my dad is friends with a couple of police officers-they do drink on the job! you should have asked the upstanding policeman to breathalise himself- obviously youd have been arrested under nothing in particular

mayorquimby · 19/07/2011 18:17

he has every right to affect a lawful stop as well, so everyone is happy.

Spuddybean · 19/07/2011 18:49

This thread is hilarious - you sound like the kind of person who thinks you are raging against the machine but really you are just being tedious.

I am a Marxist; i have been on many marches and involved in politics, but i also have respect for those doing their job and the often very reasonable laws of the land i choose to live in.

If you don't like the law which as a democracy the majority of us support why not move to somewhere where a 'joker in a blue uniform' wont be. The thing is you'd also have to give up a lot of other freedoms and security that you and your family enjoy.

With rights come responsibilities and the odd breathalyser test is a reasonable price to pay i would say.

You seem like the kind of berk who calls the armed forces murderers and think they are being radical. Pathetic really.

moonferret · 19/07/2011 18:56

You're a Marxist in one line, and refer to "the law which as a democracy the majority of us support" in the next! Are you for real?!

The fact of the matter is that the police employ all kinds of people who would be far better suited to doing something else (or nothing). They are certainly not suited to upholding the law in a "democratic" society.

Spuddybean · 19/07/2011 19:03

i do consider myself part of us as in i live in society - i did not mean us as in all marxists, sorry if that was unclear.

I did not vote Tory but that does not mean i have now opted out of society or we don't have a democracy.

Yes things need to change, but really, people should pick their battles. Having a go at someone doing their job is not the way to go.

The laws can only be changed at a political level, not by giving stupid answers to quite straightforward questions to someone doing a job (that i feel the majority of people, marxists included, would support).

moonferret · 19/07/2011 19:14

"Marxists" do not support capitalist police any more than capitalists would have supported communist police in those countries, past or present.

You sound insane to me, because even those who are right of centre have little time for the police we have in this country. The reader comments on any Daily Mail item on the police would show you that quite clearly.

Spuddybean · 19/07/2011 19:27

How is it the law enforcers fault if they are just upholding the law? The law has to be changed at a higher level.

I do not agree with MacDonalds but i wouldn't have a go at someone who worked for them.

Is your definition of Marxist is a contemporary one or one based on communism?

Contradicting your definition of a Marxist by simply thinking we should respect individuals, rather than making them a scapegoat for a system they represent (i hope) does not make me insane. Or has the mental health act now changed too!

ThatVikRinA22 · 19/07/2011 19:28

you would be very very surprised if you knew the number of people who do drink alcohol and then get into a car, often with others in the car, or their children in the car.

i had no idea until i joined the job. it still had the capacity to completely shock me.

i had a drink driver yesterday, while they were on the school run. blew well in excess of 100, legal limit is 35. perfectly respectable person in a very responsible job - you couldnt have made it up.

police do often have campaigns in which vehicles are stopped and checked, if the op answered he had been drinking all afternoon that is grounds to do a test, simple really. might teach him not to be such a smart arse in future because people die due to drink drivers. the one i had yesterday had had an accident and could have easily killed someone as the car ended up on the pavement, at school kicking out time.

still has the capacity to shock me.

moonferret · 19/07/2011 19:36

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

Spuddybean · 19/07/2011 19:52

Moonferret - i have been previously involved in left wing politics and marches. I aligned myself politically with a movement called 'living Marxism'. I understand some people - particularly history teachers - felt this was not an original 'Marxist' understanding (hence the 'living' part). I say 'Marxist' as that is probably closest to my political leanings.

I am not trying to sound intelligent merely break down opinion into broad strokes for the purposes of short posts.

When i was involved in politics we marched and campaigned, often alongside other left wing factions. It was our aim to be professional and respectful and be taken seriously. Something certain socialist/liberal groups did not.

So we would be dressed in smart clothes surrounded by crusties with dogs on string chucking stuff about. Which was a shame because they had some very interesting valid opinions which no one would hear, due to their appearance/behaviour.

Sorry you feel you have to be so aggressive. Your anger towards me using this word is quite bizarre.

Just to infuriate you further my partner is in the army and served in Afghan but I went on the anti war march!!

complexnumber · 19/07/2011 19:56

I'm beginning to enjoy this thread!

OP, did you ever try to sell Socialist Worker in front of Cov Poly in the early 80's? If so, I think I know you.

If not, it's hilarious that there is more than one of you knocking about.