Pulled over by the police with blue lights flashing because I BEEPED at them!

[BeepedAtPoliceCar]

Long but I've tried to make it easy to read!

Tonight, I dropped DS at work and on the way back had just started moving off from a large roundabout to go straight across it. It was 7pm and the road is an A road, not a residential area.

I had noticed a police car coming down from the opposite side of the roundabout (no lights flashing) and assumed it was going straight across as it had no indicators but it turned right towards me so I had to stop.

As I moved onto the roundabout after it passed me. I beeped. A short tap to say where the hell are you going. I had also had to stop. I was moving when I beeped. This is important.

I assumed it was going to take the same exit as me but it It then continued round the roundabout again. Still no indication. So I did another short beep. The direction he was going in was to our local police station about 2 minutes down the road.

Yes it was in frustration as there are many idiots who don't indicate in my area and I've had many near misses. It's pretty shit the police are driving like that as well and it was also a hazard to other road users.

Maybe the driver wasn't aware his indicators weren't working?

Anyway I drive on but see in the my rear mirror a police car speeding up the road behind me, lights flashing, in the bus lane. The speed limit is 40 and I was doing that so he must have been doing 60 at least as he caught up with me in seconds.

I immediately knew he was coming after me.

The car came alongside me and the driver wound his window down, as did I, and shouted at me to pull over now, pull over now. He looked apoplectic with rage!

I pulled over in front of him in the bus lane and he drove behind me, bumper to bumper. I have never been stopped by the police before and got out of my car to go to speak to him (oops lucky it wasn't in the US!).

He's screaming get back in your car now, get back in your car now!

So I get back in and luckily had the presence of mind to start videoing on my phone as he came over. I asked for him name and badge number which he fired off so fast I couldn't catch it. He refused to repeat it. Refused to tell me which police station he was stationed at. He said I had contravened the highway code for beeping inappropriately and would be getting a penalty ticket.

I admit I was a bit argumentative (not rude) and said he only stopped me because he was pissed off I beeped at him and the police should know better.

He then said they were looking for a 'criminal' and were on police business so didn't have to indicate (no lights except when they came for me!) and they also didn't know where they were going. He also said he didn't need to indicate unless he was exiting the roundabout.

I asked him why if he was looking for a criminal, he decided to go after someone who beeped at him for not indicating.

He said I was stationery when I beeped so that is a road traffic contravention. I was moving so I asked him why he was lying. He then stated he'd need to do drug and alcohol tests.

I asked if he was joking and what basis did he have to suspect I was driving under the influence. He said because my behaviour - beeping at him - was 'bizarre' and I was driving dangerously, then asked if I was refusing? So I had to do them. They were clear obviously.

I said I would be making a complaint as I believed he was abusing his power because he was pissed off I beeped at him and 'how dare he bully members of the public'.

He then said MOVE NOW because I was in an active lane (bus lane where he forced me to stop) and if I didn't move now I'd get another ticket for failing to comply with an instruction from a police officer. I said 'who do you think you're talking to'.

I was very WTF and asked him to repeat the law I had broken and told him to give me the ticket so I could challenge it in court, so he said he did and I would get it in the post.

Two tickets - £130 and 3 points.

I then drove off. He didn't come behind me so I can only assume he went back round the next roundabout in the direction of the police station and the looking for a criminal was rubbish. In fact he said it so sarcastically, I think he meant looking for someone to book!

I have video of most of the interaction and he comes across very bullish and rude, especially when he was shouting at me to 'move now'. Literally no more than a minute until I did but he still said he had given me a ticket.

I did tell him I was putting the video on TikTok and would be making a complaint.
Quite shocked about this, and on reading about challenging the tickets in court, it seems that you can end up with a criminal conviction if you lose!

The lie about me being stationery when I beeped (which I have on video) should be easily disproven by their dashcam. Would they have to give me this if I challenge it?

Sadly I don't have my own. I ordered one ages ago, kept forgetting to set it up and it was on top of the bookcase at home!

WIBU?

I'm surprised the drug and alcohol test came back fine. No normal sane person.who wasn't under the influence of something would have behaved this way

I admit I was a bit argumentative (not rude) and said he only stopped me because he was pissed off I beeped at him and the police should know better.

I'm surprised you didn't give him three beeps for stopping you.

Negative, of course! I don't drink at all after a bad mixing incident in my teens, though my insides were going to come up, and only managed one puff of pot when I was about 20 and didn't like it.

They only test for cannabis and cocaine. I was going to suggest they add Ketamine and MDMA onto their tests as according to my kids they're rife in our area, but thought better of it.

Thanks for that though. I've just added that into my complaint.

Requesting a roadside drug or alcohol test solely because a person honked their horn is not consistent with the requirement for reasonable suspicion under UK law. Unless there are additional objective indicators of impairment or unsafe driving, there are no sound legal grounds for the police to insist on such a test.

Challenging an aggressive officer is not a sound legal ground either. I sound very coherent and speak clearly in the video. Hate listening to my voice because I sound like I have a silver spoon rammed in my mouth which may have pissed the cop off more I suppose!

Maybe he found me 'bizarre' because he is used to people meekly saying 'so sorry Mr Policeman, please don't arrest me Mr Policeman' like posters seem to think should be done on here, except from the actual criminals obviously.

Definitely bed now. Lie in tomorrow thank god.

What did you think you were going to achieve by beeping at a police officer twice and then trying to go over to his car after he asked you to stop. It’s laughable that you thought threatening him with TikTok was going to do anything.

I wouldn’t beep at a police car because I would figure they were trying to work out what to do/where to go and probably not in easy circumstances

he does sound an arse though

Love that you are relying on AI to give you legal advice, Would especially love to see how you phrased your questions to generate these answers 😂

IF this is real, you used your horn inappropriately twice (which is an offence) and were then argumentative to the police officer.

I’m not surprised they tested you for DUI, it sounds like an entirely reasonable suspicion on their part.

Are you always this combative and self righteous?

This won’t end well for you Op. It will definitely escalate and you deserve it. Why is everyone so entitled . Me me me !

I think you were wrong here and deserve what you got. Your were rude and argumentative.

@BeepedAtPoliceCar interesting your comments re needing a reason to breath and drug test. Doesn't the UK have random BAC and drug testing like we have in Australia? We can be pulled over at random for testing either with a road side blitz or just because the officer wants to.

Do you have some type of mental illness that you're not mentioning here like ODD?

I can't fathom the way you behaved. it's just so unhinged. Also that he had to pull up alongside your car for you to pull over you didn't pull over when you saw his lights on

^This,

Plus you knowingly ignored their flashing lights behind you which is universal signal for pull over at first safe opportunity. You said in your OP you knew immediately they were coming after you. But you just kept driving la la la such that they had to come alongside you, roll down the window and shout between the cars to tell you to pull over.

You then chose to pull over in a bus lane, which is another violation of the Highway Code.

The rest is as this poster described. You are completely in the wrong. There was no abuse of power by the police here.

Reminds me of the police officer in Withnail and I. 😀

Requesting a roadside drug or alcohol test solely because a person honked their horn is not consistent with the requirement for reasonable suspicion under UK law. Unless there are additional objective indicators of impairment or unsafe driving, there are no sound legal grounds for the police to insist on such a test.

Well let’s see, you honked your horn twice for reasons not permitted, you ignored their flashing lights while drving behind you and refused to pull over forcing them to come alongside you and shout at you to pull over. You then didn’t pull over at a safe location/lay by, but into an active bus lane. At the police stop, you got out of your car and tried to approach them which is the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to do and usually only done by the drunk/high or mentally ill.

I would say AI would give you a much different answer if you’d been remotely honest about all your unsafe behaviours and indications of impairments.

The idea that you shouldn't beep at a police car, presumably because it will obviously result is them "getting you".
Is the problem.

The fact that it is self evident to all posters including the OP who half expected it just shows how low the reputation of the police really is. Mostly deservedly.

Wtf? How did you conclude that? Beeping to alert a driver you’re there to prevent an accident is entirely different from beeping to tell a police car (or any car) you think they’re driving like a twat. It’s a form of passive aggressive road rage. It’s not OP’s job to police the driving of the police.

I am honestly glad OP was pulled over and ticketed, too many people abuse their horn like she did. Maybe she will now use it properly.

Stupid is, as stupid does. Who beeps the police? Not once but twice? Then starts being aggy, recording and threatening to out them on social media.

OP justify it however you want but your own arrogance landed you with a fine which you should pay and learn from instead of looking for reasons to ‘win’ or be ‘right’.

fully agree with this. my brother was a police officer and a bigger nasty bully the world has rarely seen.
The police don’t have carte blanche to drive like wankers.

In my view, OP beeping twice because she had to give way when entering a roundabout because the police were already in the roundabout not sure of which exit they needed so they signalled when they found the one they needed is the OP driving like a wanker.

Can you post the video?

🤣

You exhibited extremely bizarre behaviour. Do you often lack complete common sense? Therefore the drug/alcohol test was warranted.

For the police, "I'm putting this on tiktok" must be the bane of their life!

Have you heard the phrase 'pick your battles' @BeepedAtPoliceCar? I think its hilarious that you not only thought it appropriate to police the police (twice! 🫣) on the road, but you then got out to tell him off 😂😂😂

I bet the cops wish staying off tiktok and twitter was a penalty they could hand out 😂 'The world according to tiktok', eh.

Ahh you fucked around and thus, you found out.