to be annoyed at the police

[ellerman]

driving home from swimming class - 5 year old in back, 5:30pm, pitch black, in our village main street, blue lights flashing behind me, pulled over, and they pulled in behind me. Seems one of my brake lights was not working, fair enough, they then checked all my lights, tyre tread, tax disc, insurance and MOT. All fine of course - I told them that we often get stopped when driving our (second) 14 year old car, often for no actual offence. My husband is a social worker, and is often stopped on "routine" checks in dodgy neighbourhoods, old car = must be trouble. I politely explained we were 2 professionals who kept our car serviced ( bar brake light which lets face it hard to know!) ....then police officer told me that there was no compulsion for me to get it repaired and show evidence at police station. So I was stopped for something that's actually not an offence, but an excuse to check over an older car in the hope of finding something else to pin on me. Is this where we are at in the UK today?

They told you something you needed to know, then did fairly logical checks to make sure the car was safe to drive. And that's a problem?

Your car wasn't road worthy.
Driving in the 'pitch black' with one break light is very dangerous.

Be grateful he didn't give you a ‘vehicle defect rectification notice’ and move on.

YABU the police officer was doing his job.

Sounds like they were fair, not sure why you are annoyed.

I supppse it's one of those things really. I've been pulled over on New Years Eve for a routine check, I think they were watching out for drunk drivers and pulled over every 5 th car or whatever. Had the full check, obviously not a drink driver, 2week old Dd in the car with me. All fine, off I went. I always drive old cars....only been pulled over that one time in over 20 years of driving.

Exactly what is there to be annoyed about? You now know you have a problem with your brake lights

He didn't compel you to get it repaired, it is an offence and he could have made you produce evidence you had it fixed

He did you a favour and you had no reason to be defensive and go I to some long explanation about your profession, your other car, your husband

I think you should be more grateful you weren't given a ticket for having a defective light after using the professional people card . All types of people break the law.

YABU. And non-professionals get their cars serviced too.

Yabu

He's doing his job and making sure your car is safe. Minot sure why this is such a problem?

It is actually an offence (according to the RAC)
www.great-cars.co.uk/general-news/2771-brake-light-failure-for-uk-motorists.html
and can get you points on your licence and a fine.....

YABU.

YABU

He was doing his job, and also did you a favour of letting you know your brake light is out, because as you said it's hard to realise isn't it?

Get a grip- he was doing his job.
He must have thought you were very strange for telling your little story about your jobs etc- I doubt very much he was interested.
What difference did you expect it to make?

Sounds like you got off lightly!

Yabu

And does being a social worker make you exempt from committing crime these days

Yabu.
It is an offence (ticketable at officers discretion) , and it's not 'hard to know' about brake lights, you should check them every journey or at least once a week.

It's routine to check everything after a brake light because if someone is lax about their car management they'll normally be committing another offence.

YABU

and make sure that you maintain your car between services

It is an offence. I've been given a form before where I had to get it fixed, then get it inspected at a garage at a cost of £10, they stamped my form which I had to send in.

The copper said he could have given me a proper £30 ticket. This was a few years ago.

A copper friend said he wouldn't have done either, he'd have given the driver a friendly warning.

Can't believe you're pissed off that you basically got let off.

Oh for fucks sake! YABVVVU and you know it.

Get over yourself.

I've been pulled, full checks and breathalysed for having a headlight out. Police completely within their rights, I was late for a meeting but I wouldn't dream of complaining. I did giggle nervously the whole time though, poor bloke must have wondered what was so funny!

This sounds like a scene from Police, Camera, Action, Whatever. They pull over someone who then gives them an hour long sob story about why they shouldn't be booked / told off.

The blue lights were for your benefit and for other road users, who needed to see them to remain safe on the road.

It is standard practice for police officers to run checks on a vehicle they stop. An awful lot of crime is discovered incidentally from routine traffic stops, and if your car had been stopped on numerous occasions for being in a faulty condition, it would have had a bearing on how the police officer chose to deal with it. For the same reason, that's why he checked your tyres, etc. Having already established you hadn't noticed a brake light, how is he to know that you haven't noticed a defective tyre, for example? He doesn't know you and can't vouch for your responsibility.

It would also have been irresponsible for him not to check the insurance status on your vehicle having stopped you, since again that's routine and how would it have looked had you had an accident a mile up the road, with no insurance, and it turns out he had stopped you earlier and let you go without checking?

There were a number of ways the police officer could have dealt with this. It may not feel like it, but you got the best one. You could have received a compulsory order to fix your car and report to a police station to prove it, you could have been fined or summonsed to court. The police officer was actually very considerate. He made the right call in letting you off since from what you've said you are clearly a responsible road user with no history of driving offences - but he had to do his job to establish that.