getting stopped by police, my rights>

[aLLAN]

well on my way home last night i got stopped by police

obviosuyl i had nothing to hide
but it pissed me off as i was effing freezing outside the car..

and knew police didnt have anything on me so they were wastign my time..

first thing they said is, is this your car.
name
date of birth

any documents or license

i gave my detaisl
but had no docuemnt or license to show (nor did i want to if i had any)

they say they put the plate through and its prob been makred down from before etc...

previous owner of my bravo was a 50+ old guy who treated it like a family car and hardly drove it and was the first owner??


every time i see the police i do get pissed off as they show off too much power
end of the day if im not in the wrong then i can be as awkward as i like

what rights do i have >? what questiosn can i ask?
what can i not answer to??
etc..

sorry but it is a real pisstake
to stand in the cold when it was like 2 degress last night...not happy at all about that..

i know we should all be kind to police etc but why shoudl be ..in this day and age
more and more peopel hate the police and they hardly trying to discourage that..

 

[Tom]

"obviosuyl i had nothing to hide"

"nor did i want to if i had any"

Make up your mind.

 

[Anonymous]

well i had nothign to hide at all..
honestly
i havent e ver been arrested..

but what if i had do i need to disclose this at the roadside??

 

[patrick]

I work with the police daily as my university has open access to the public and I see both sides of the police, some good, some bad, some who get stressed and some ultra cool guys, but basically your rights are explained here

http://www.merseyside.police.uk/html/stopsearch/your-rights.htm

 

[patrick]

also

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/powers/road-traffic/

 

[Ed]

bit of a contradiction there:

Merseyside Police:

"If you are stopped and searched by the police, you have certain rights. The police officer must:

* Tell you why you have been stopped"

Home Office:

"The police have the power to stop anyone at any time – they don't need to give you a reason – and failing to stop is a criminal offence."

____________________________________________________________
1.2 Bravo 80 SX

 

[Anonymous]

stop and search is if you are a pedestrian...ie walking down the street. Road traffic is something different

Ade

 

[john]

if it gets bad, tell them "i dont understand the significance of your words, i'd like to read a copy of PAS", then you can sit and read the book for as long as you want (literally - plus if they dont have a copy on them they have to call someone out from the station to bring a copy out). All the time you can be hoping they get bored and leave you alone - or they get a call to something more important.

also never ever ever admit to doing anything wrong - police will ask you such things as "how fast were you going?" dont say 'about 33mph" say - "the speed limit - 30mph" and stick to it, otherwise you are giving evidence you did something wrong. Good to be really polite whilst doing all this too.

 

[Barakka]

From above, they have to give a reason to search you or your vehicle. They don't have to give a reason to stop you to ask you questions or to see your documents.

 

[john]

have we got any rights if we see a police car turn without indicating/having a light out? cause i see both these things a fair bit round where i live - having a light out after all is "against" the law.

 

[Anonymous]

The Police don't have a right to stop you arbitarily. They must have reasonable grounds on basis of whether they have seen an offence being committed, is about to be commited or you or your vehicle correspond with a description or information they have in connection with any offence.

I think the above post referring to PAS is really means the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). The police do have a power under the RTA 1988 to ask for your name, address, licence details. Failure to give this to them or providing false details or if they believe them to be false gives them power to arrest you.
If you are arrested they have to tell you the reason and should caution you which is important as if they don't then any information you provide or failure to mention when asked could be considered inadmissible by a court as they haven't given a caution or the correct caution.

The Police might well be indolent or incompetent but I doubt whether they like you would want to freeze their nuts off on a cold night dealing with someone like you who has 'nothing to hide'. You must have been doing something to attract their attention? It always pays to be polite courteous and good natured.

 

[john]

yeah sorry i did mean PACE - my mistake. good job i didnt ask to read a copy of PAS :\

 

[mountainmachine]

Think the home office need to update there home page:

Non-endorsable offences - meaning those which don't result in points on your licence, like driving while talking on a mobile phone - usually incur a fine of £30.

Drives: Bravo HGT 155 Nov 2000 - Vroom Yellow
Family: Punto JTD ELX 2001 - Met Red - Volvo S40 2.0 TS 2002 - Red
Old: Brava 80sx 1999 - Red - Punto 60sx 1997 - Red

 

[Anonymous]

Anyway the book on PACE you are referring applies to those detained at a police station. Everyone has a right to have some one told of their detention, a right to free and private legal advive and a right to consult a copy of the Codes of Practice PACE 1984. You are fully entitled to see the COP however it is not the most exciting read and seeing that most in this country struggle with reading and writing anyway or don't speak english sufficiently well(if in detention and you cannot undestand what is being put to you as english is not your mother tongue then you are entitled to have an interpreter provided) I doubt whether they could understand what the provisions would mean to them anyway as it is a fairly heavy and turgid read.

 

[nige]

Oh well it appears the Police took up some of your valuable time last night while trying to keep our streets safe, also seems I wasted some of mine reading this rather pointless post.

 

[Roberto]

^^^ What he said ^^^

I want those 5 minutes of my life back.

Rob

Marea Weekend 1.8 16v 115 ELX

 

[g5een]

young male drivers get stopped all the time. and lets be honest theres more chance of them having something on them than a 50 yr old man. get over yourself... yawn

 

[Dan Brown]

I've been stopped a few times, normally its because the car looks modified. They want to check things like tax, insurance, license etc.

I don't see anything wrong with this really. I see a lot of cars around my area heavily modfied and driving like lunatics. I always see the police as protection and (so far) haven't had a bad experience with them.


my HGTmy HLX

 

[ChristieCruiser]

i agree ^^

i got a section59 last october. realised it was my fault for being a muppet so accepted it and learnt from it...

so they are doing what they are supposed to..

like has already been said thouhg. there are more under 25's driving illegaly than any other age group. be it no tax/mot or insurance.

so i dont mind

 

[patrick]

I was teaching my lad to drive when he was still in college. This one day when I went to pick him up, he asked if he could give a couple of friends a lift home and I agreed. He jumps in the drivers seat, me in the passenger seat, his young mates in the back and off we go. He pulled onto a roundabout and a police car was close by and obviously all they saw was a young driver with young mates so they followed him and gave a quick flash of the siren. Obviously my lad was panicking a bit as it was the first time it had ever happened, I made sure he was calm and got him to pull over at a safe place. The copper explained (after seeing me) taht he was just checking of the age of the driver ect, stepped back and told my lad to carry on.......my son was sooooooo relived, he put the clutch in, selected first, let the clutch out.........and run over the coppers foot,lol