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?

Two days later and the Op’s still in denial. When will it sink in and click with her?
Don’t forget to inform your car insurance about your 3 points 😅

There was no need to beep, he has passed you so is correct in you used your horn incorrectly. If you had already pulled out and he drove into your path i may have agreed with you as a "hey im here!". The second beep and he argument was unnecessary. If i was going straight across i wouldnt have indicated until I was leaving either.

I have beeped the police on the motorway. He came off the slip road straight into lane 3, no indication and I nearly hit him. He flashed his hazards at me as an apology and we carried on our way. Also seen a police car coming up behind me with no lights on at speed, I just moved out the way.

This was before all that, probably 1979.

Ok. Still a very odd story.

Is it worth it?Hinestly let it go. You won't get anywhere. They will gang up against you. You did beep a police car TWICE!Not up to you to beep bad drivere police or not.

Crown servants. Not public servants.

I completely agree. And it’s not just Sarah Everard’s killer. I was there at the vigil for the poor girl and saw the way the Met police were putting women on the ground and restraining them. It was disgusting. It was a beautiful, peaceful and moving vigil until the Met turned up and started being heavy handed. I have zero respect for police after that evening. Zero.

We have policing by consent in this country and for good reason. They should not go unchallenged and we should not be cowering under their authority. Without the public’s respect, they have no authority. And they must earn our respect by behaving appropriately.

Employed to provide a service to the public, funded from the public purse. So in all practical terms, public servants.
Crown servants only as tradition of keeping 'the kings peace'. Given the king no longer makes the peace (the laws) it has no practical meaning any more.

Seriously OP, you genuinely think you have done nothing wrong? And would do exactly the same if the same situation occurred?

Traffic on a roundabout has right of way over traffic joining the roundabout. The police car was not indicating to leave the roundabout. You assumed it was. You assumed wrong, started to pull out and then had to stop. At some point or other, you beeped your horn, not once but twice and the second time was out of annoyance.

So you think he was doing 60 in a 40mph road. Police cars are allowed to do that when they have their blue lights on. Besides, at that stage they didn't know whether you were a middle-aged woman, or a knife-wielding villain. Either way, you had broken the law already.

You pulled over, and got out. He shouted at you to get back in the car.
He did that for several reasons...

A. You got out of your car into a live lane with traffic on it. He shouted at you to get back in the car FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. People can be killed when standing by the side of the road, and you would be safer in the car.
At that stage he didn't know whether you were under the influence of drink or drugs and -
B. You might stagger off across the carriageway and be hit by another vehicle.
C. You might have been intending to do a runner.
D. You might have been intending to assault the officer.

You got back in your car and were then confrontational and antagonistic towards the officer. People who do things as daft as beep their horn at police cars and are then unco-operative and downright stroppy when stopped, might not be in full control of their faculties. Which is why he decided to test you.

By arguing the toss with him like that, you were obstructing a police officer in the course of their duty. That is an offence.

You were in the wrong, and acted foolishly, to put it mildly.

But there's no point in telling you any of this, because you are going to carry right on insisting that you were right and he was wrong.

Except it does.

If police were legally public servants, politicians could control them. Because they are legally Crown servants, they answer only to the law, ensuring the government cannot weaponise the police force against the public.

I beeped at it as I would have done to any car in that situation.

which is a traffic offence. It's perfectly appropriate for the police to pursue you and pull you over for a traffic offence, middle aged woman or otherwise.

I think you’d get more support OP if you criticised the police’s actions and the way they handled it BUT at least admitted you were wrong in beeping!

Insisting you were correct to beep twice is bonkers, complaining about their conduct is not.

OP, I do fully agree with you that this police officer seems to have retaliated unfairly to your beeping. Using his position to give you tickets is an abuse of his power. Please do start a new thread/update this if space when the outcome of the complaint is known.

Beeping as OP did is against the Highway Code and it is not unfair to follow procedure, especially when the offender if entitled, argumentative, and offensive, and issuing (juvenile TikTok) threats to boot.

Can you link to the TikTok video so we can judge for ourselves?

Is it? Rule 112 of the Highway Code

The horn. Use only while your vehicle is moving and you need to warn other road users of your presence. Never sound your horn aggressively. You MUST NOT use your horn

• while stationary on the road
• when driving in a built-up area between the hours of 11.30 pm and 7.00 am

except when another road user poses a danger.

I mean I wouldn't have done it myself but I think OP can argue she felt she needed to alert the police car that she was there? Police may well argue that wasn't her intention and she was doing it to "tell them off" but not sure it would be very easy to prove.

Once he's gone past her what was gained by telling him she was there? I can't see the point.

She didn't beep her horn to prevent an impending collision - that's what the horn is supposed to be used for. It is not to be used to correct other people's driving.

The OP moved onto the roundabout when there was a vehicle approaching from her right, so of course she had to stop. You give way to traffic from the right in a roundabout. She second guessed that the car was going to exit before it reached her - she had absolutely no legal need to use her horn in those circumstances, she was just pissed off.

The grounds are your dangerous driving - you pulled onto a roundabout when there was a vehicle approaching from your right, which is an offence. You used your horn in annoyance, that is also an offence.

Absolute rubbish I'm afraid. I wasn't booked for dangerous driving. Twat policeman tried to say I was when I challenged him over the beeping and on what grounds he was insisting on a drug and alcohol test but he didn't mention it again. Just fabricated another charge!

If you can picture a large 4 exit two lane roundabout, the police car was coming from the north, I was approaching from the south in the left hand lane on an uphill gradient and intended to go straight across the roundabout.

His positioning was in the outside lane to go straight across as well and as I was on his right, I couldn't see his left indicator. I had slowed on approach to the roundabout (40mph road) and was going to go straight across (I have an automatic so can move off quickly) when he suddenly changed positioning, moved into the left lane of the roundabout and came round towards me so I had to quickly stop.

I expected him to take the exit to my left but he continued going round to the right again with no indication so no one knew where he was going. There wasn't much traffic but there were a few cars, he was a hazard, and disrupting the flow of traffic expecting everyone to wait on the roundabout until he decided where he was going!

He should have been indicating that he moving right round the roundabout and as a cop there are no excuses. He said he didn't know where he was going as he was looking for a 'criminal' which indicated careless driving especially as he would have had a sat nav!

I think the people throwing abuse at me because I beeped my horn at a cop car (oh the horror!) are very odd (understatement) to think that was worse than cops abandoning an operation to search for a criminal, to pursue a woman in a high speed chase, act aggressively, not follow standards of conduct and fabricate a charge because I didn't kowtow to him.

Honestly, INSANE!

Only one who behaved insane was you!

Can you demand his body cam footage with a freedom of information request?