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?

Imagine how much easier your night would have been if you could have just controlled your indignation, and not unnecessarily beeped your horn.

Marked police cars don’t shadow criminals because they are marked!

Marked police cars are meant to be visible & noticeable!

I would have to be actually getting murdered before I would intentionally involve myself with the police. Your mistake was thinking that the police go around doing the right thing like you are in a children’s television programme on iplayer.

The instantly saying name and badge number while shoving a camera in his face tells me everything I need to know about you

The truth is there are some very nasty police out there. The Met police have got some very nasty characters.
The police force can and does attract some power hungry individuals.
It’s tempting to call them out ie beep at them. But it’s not worth it. They join forces when they feel criticised. So not easy to win.
But I hope you succeed. Ignore all those on here criticising you. They clearly have not seen the ugly side of our police force.

I sometimes catch bits of those sort of programs where a film crew follow some police officers around and I'm often amazed that they (the police) are happy for (some of) their behaviour to be documented. They're supposed to be trained to be calm and authoritative, and understand how to deal with people who are angry / frightened / confused without making things worse, but so often they they are obviously just pissed off that not everyone will just do as they're told without question, and decide to put people in their place.

While it's not really appropriate to toot your horn as a way to critisize someone's driving, I think the copper acted like a dick. What if someone beeped a police car to get their attention because they needed help or something? Why assume that another driver is having a go at them, instead of approaching the situation with an open mind? Find out what's going on before making a judgement.

About three quarters of the people killed by police in the US each year are not black.

Amazing. Hooting at police cars, not once but twice. Getting out of your car - just why? And then arguing! And threatening tik tok! Really? You are lucky he was a policeman and not someone as consumed with road rage as yourself.

You could have been seriously injured. You got off lightly tbh. You sound as of you were spoiling for a fight. And you were the one breaking the law. Thank goodness your ds wasnt in the car to watch you make a complete arse of yourself.

Sadly the Police have to deal with the ugly side of society daily.

This!

I think OP is getting a bit of a hard time, that policeman sounds like an absolute wanker. My DH is a policeman and I would be absolutely mortified if he had such a bitch fit over someone beeping at him because he doesn’t know how to indicate.

Agree with you. I always teach my pupils if someone isn’t signalling always assume they’re coming your way.

Also do not enter a roundabout until the vehicle to the right has passed you.

OP was a dick 😂

Exactly.

It was an unwise choice to misuse the horn at a police officer. Some people might venture so far as to say, "bloody stupid"!

Beeping at emergency services, filming it AND threatening to put it on Tiktok?! That’s hilarious, why did you do that 😂😂

🙈

Are you going to share the tiktok link ?

A police car cut me up recently and I beeped at them and mouthed at the driver “are you blind?” They slowed me down asked me to unwind my window and apologised for their bad driving. They’re not immune from being idiots.

You absolute melon.

you sound absolutely unhinged!

interesting you are worried about what the Highway Code says about indicating but not use of the horn?

Couldn’t agree more. And as OP has found out, traffic police seem to be the worst of the lot. They all seem power crazed to me. Never forgotten being pulled over at 6am as a lone female driver because (you’d better sit down for this) my tax disc was on the wrong side of my windscreen. Asshole.

That's exactly what he was doing, you broke the law by beeping inappropriatly.
And you might want to read the highway code again because he is correct about indicating on roundabouts.

I beeped. A short tap to say where the hell are you going

Clearly didn’t pass the Beep Language Module at Police College.

stupid or what….

You sound quite unhinged

No he isn’t. If you’re only exiting at the next exit (or going straight on) you can just indicate left when you exit. If you’re going all the way round like this guy did, you need to be in the outside lane, indicating right, then come into the inside lane after starting to indicate left, once your exit from the roundabout is the next one up.

Sorry OP, I need clarity on two things in your OP:

First you mentioned you were "moving off... to go straight across." Were you just driving onto the roundabout from your entry road? Or had you already traveled around it and were exiting onto the opposite road?

Second, you said the police car "turned right towards" you, forcing you to stop. Did the police car enter the roundabout tturn right against the flow of traffic (with you on the roundabout and just about to exit) so they were driving directly toward your car? Or was the police car already on the roundabout, approaching from the junction ahead? Did you enter because you assumed they were exiting onto your road, even though they weren't indicating left, but they continued around and blocked your path?

If the police car was driving against the flow of traffic, they were clearly at fault. However, if you entered the roundabout based on an assumption about where they were going—without seeing an indicator—you may share liability for failing to yield to traffic already on the roundabout.