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 agree. We've had 2 police officers killed recently in the line of duty. Others have been attacked and injured by criminals. They really don't need to have to deal with this kind of tomfoolery.

Beeping at, and arguing with, police offers rarely ends up in favour of the member of the public. Just be glad you’re not in the US, you would have been in handcuffs before you could say Jack Robinson.

Nope after shouting at me repeatedly - remember the only indication he had of 'criminality' was me beeping at him - then immediately told me he'd be issuing me with a ticket for using my horn inappropriately while my car was 'stationary' after I'd asked for his name and badge number when he walked up to my car window and I'd informed him I was filming.

I only thought to start filming and asked for his details BECAUSE he was red faced and shouting.

Fuck the po po eh op 😂😂

It’s so weird because police in the U.K. don’t have a “badge number”.

Oh we have an anarchist

The police?

Exactly. A cop being annoyed a woman beeped at him and chasing her up the road with lights flashing was certainly 'tomfoolery'.

Interesting and I doubt he was “red-faced” either.

i wouldn’t have beeped but the officer sounds like a grade A prick.

It was on his arm. Got it on video.

That's not why you did it according to your OP though. First beep to ask where the hell they were going and a second one out of frustration. Both uses were against the law so I'm not sure why you were surprised to be pulled over. The police not indicating doesn't change what you did. Two wrongs don't make a right now do they?

You seem a little naive. Are you from a different country or were you brought up in a very sheltered way? Everyone knows you don't mess with the police or bother them on the roads. Why on earth would you want to get into an altercation with police when they have the law on their side?

There are people who have gone to jail for less than what you did because they might not have had the resouces or sense of entitlement to argue back. You did something immature and stupid so I'm not surprised the police officer was angry.

when we were young, my favourite cousin had a lapse in her insurance unbeknownst to any of us, we had been out cruising around the county all day and it was around 11.30pm so we decided to go home (she had work the next day and i felt exhausted too). we were going from the town up to the estates and noticed a police car behind us, then suddenly at the end of my mother’s street, they turned the lights on and came to the passenger side, checked her license etc while she shook like a dog, then they started harping on and all of a sudden i invented an elderly auntie who we nursed around the clock and was about to go. i rattled on about details and going to the house in the furthest town to get her wedding dress, i even phoned my mother to tell us we needed to go or we wouldn’t be there when she died, to her eternal credit she delivered an oscar worthy performance without knocking the story, the poor policeman actually had tears in his eyes and insisted to the other one we should be excused because we were only kids working like nurses and worked too hard to miss her last breath. they eventually drove away and my cousin broke down in case they took her license or she had to go to prison, but she was amazed with how detailed and believable i was off the cup. went home, got a slap from my mother (commonplace at that time) for telling lies and making her lie to police. my cousin still hasn’t heard a thing about it all these years later🤣

Yes there is.
As long as they are driving to the conditions do not need to have blues and twos on to “break the law”

UK police officers have a collar number, not a badge number. So it’s really strange that he said it was his badge number.

He certainly was and very angry in disposition. A middle aged woman beeped at him FGS. The audacity!

And? The black population of the US is only 13-15%, so that's still well out of proportion.

That being said, I don't think race would make a difference here. Anyone who gets out of their car after being pulled over by the police in the US is risking being shot. I'm a white woman and I was taught since the day I started driving that you never get out of the car when you're pulled over unless ordered to do so, you roll down the window and put both hands in plain sight on the wheel and don't make any movements or reach for anything without telling the officer what you're doing.

I'd bet it's actually more likely for a white person to be shot for getting out of their car uninvited in the US as no black person would ever be stupid enough to do this.

No you had also jumped out of your car when pulled over. You’re not supposed to do that. It’s also a criminal offence not to agree to a drug/drink test.

He doesn’t have a badge number, it’s a card and to the best of my knowledge they don’t technically have to show it to you. Although you can ask.

Or in Spain. If OP had pulled a stunt like that with the Guardia Civil, she would have regretted it instantly.

Well they can follow the letter of the law if they’re wound up and you breached the Highway Code. I don’t know what you were thinking trying to antagonise the police.

Anyway, so much beeping, I now have Roadrunner stuck in my head.

Do you agree that you have committed an offence? It certainly appears so from your original posts.
therefore they have discretion to deal with you for breaking the law as they see fit.

I have to say it sounds like you have been aggressive towards them which has escalated matters, but if you believe you were not treated civilly then please make a complaint as other posters have indicated.

this will not cancel out the fact you committed an offence in the first place though.

Quite a few police officers charged with rape and domestic violence too

He had a number on his shoulder. Pretty sure that's how they ID themselves.

Well done for sticking up for yourself, I had something similar happen but it was an unmarked police car. Got pulled over but my mum who was with me told him he was out of order and was abusing his power. I wish now I’d taken it further.