Pulled over by police

[NotAScoobyDoo2]

I'm posting here for traffic more than anything. I'm just wondering what other people think of this and whether it's something they've experienced, if they've been pulled over.

A few months ago, I was driving home from hospital, visiting a relative - it had been quite a long day so although I was trying desperately to concentrate, I was a bit tired. I also had my 11 yo son in the car with me.

About halfway home, I noticed a Police car behind me - I hadn’t realised my speed was creeping up and when he pulled me over, I was doing 75. I got out of the car, on the hard shoulder of the motorway. When I got out, he told me the speed I was going and asked me to follow him. He drove about 15/20 minutes to a completely abandoned car park in what felt like the middle of the Surrey hills. When I got there it was starting to get dark.

I started to feel a bit weird about the whole thing. I got out of my car and the officer that pulled me over told me to get into his car so he could show me footage of my driving. I asked him if he was joking and said absolutely no way am I getting into anyone's car. He then asked me to lean in so he could show me my driving. When he replayed it, he started back pedalling really quickly by saying actually, "it's not as bad as I thought and maybe you should just go home and read the highway code". It's been bothering me ever since. Every time, I read about the Sarah Everard case, this occasion comes to mind. I just want to know if he was being unprofessional or whether I was being over cautious. I'm a single woman and feel vulnerable at the best of times.

Wait…they are filming?!

I got pulled over for speeding once. Had my kids in the car, broad daylight. Was fair game, I thought the road was a 40, it was a 30, I was going 37.

They did vehicle checks and gave me a lecture about speeding but avoided a ticket. Never showed me any footage though, or required me to even get out of my car.

Traffic police film speeding cars . Not normal plods

Stopping on the hard shoulder is one of the most dangerous things you can do
theres been many cases of people being killed sat on the hard shoulder
so I completely get moving off the motorway
but surely there must of been somewhere nearer or did the 15 minutes drive include driving to the next motorway exit

A friend of mine was pulled over one night, she needed to nip to the 24 hour Asda, she jumped into her son’s car, a Vauxhall Corsa. She maintains she had done nothing wrong and that the police probably thought it was an opportunity to noise up a “ boy racer” because of the model of the car. She said they were visibly surprised by the fact she was a middle aged woman. Not wanting to lose face they questioned her in the back of a police van for over an hour then eventually acted like they were being magnanimous in letting her go. She said it was frightening and obvious they were doubling down because she wasn’t the right demographic to target that night. The police can be absolutely horrible sometimes.

Have you suffered sexual assault in the past OP?

This is relatively common knowledge since the Sarah Everard case.

I was living in the US in the1980s when a girl was murdered by a cop. It turns out he would see lone females driving on the freeway late at night and follow them until they were approaching a very desolate exit then turn on lights for them to pull over. Then he would tell them to drive down to the deserted area. He did that many times and just scared the women by engaging them in a long conversation down there, until he finally pulled the victim over one night and ended her life. You can google it - her name was Cara Knott.

Edited to add: The cop had previously pulled over women not realising there was a passenger in the car. He quickly let those women leave.

She’s not, the OP should report the incident to the relevant police force. I say this as someone who works with police officers daily.

Was it really 15 mins?

They must've thought u were some crazy woman lol

Wow. Just wow.

I’m sorry what wrong with you? If what she is saying is true then she is not being dramatic at all. Are you male?

No doubt you'd have said the same to Sarah Everard if she had managed to escape Wayne Couzens.

If you felt unsafe or odd about it, no harm in reporting it. Nothing will be done, but if it was a rogue officer it could be vital evidence.

Says who, you lord of the internet? And if you were female you would get how common this type of shit is likely to be.

When I was pulled over by police it was on a motorway. They were perfectly happy to stay on the hard shoulder while they sorted things out.

There were also two of them in the car. I wonder if that is more usual for traffic patrols?

If everything you have said is completely accurate, I would report. Asking you to leave the motorway and taking you to a deserted car park is extremely odd. Asking you to get into the police car is fairly standard, but not the other stuff.

Oh. Were you in the back seat?

Omg that's shocking

YANBU. I would never trust a police officer in this situation. The recent Charing Cross documentary has shown that NOTHING has changed since Sarah Everard.
Was he out on his own? I thought they always had to be paired up. Report it.

Don’t most do 75 when overtaking

After Sarah Everard one of my secret fears is being stopped by the police as I might be so afraid that I wouldn’t comply.

YANBU. I would consider reporting the interaction with 101 if you have details of the time and area it happened. Was he alone? I thought normally traffic police patrol in pairs.

I had an incident a few years ago where a police car almost tried to pull out in front of me at a junction (no lights or sirens on and I watched him not check the road before pulling out, too busy talking to his colleague). He tried to accuse me of running a red light which was untrue and I had dashcam footage to prove it. Fortunately his colleague calmed him down and they didn't try to take anything further. It's still worrying that people who get angry this easily and don't pay attention to the road when driving make it into the Police. A tip my DH gave was to ask for their badge number if you feel like you've been pulled over for something which isn't a legitimate reason.

I am female.