Scottish Elises

My son, Gordon, Started a new job this week in Stirling. It's was an early start for him on Sunday and about 8am he was pulled over by the police for no obvious reason other than he's a young lad in a Clio Cup. Now we've spent many hours checking and fixing up the car and it has just passed an MOT so it's in pretty good nick and they were obviously disappointed when every thing checked out OK, but not to be beaten, they insisted the car's exhaust was bowing and gave him a 21 day notice to repair.

Gordon was understandably annoyed by this but nevertheless bowed to authority and went and bought a complete new system, which we fitted today. The thing is, the one we took off was perfect . What's in it for the Police to behave like this? Why must they harass a young lad who was doing everything right - haven't they got better things to - like catch the gang that stole my trailer, or broke into my wife's flat? No, they just go for the easy targets, which 9 time out of 10 is a honest hard working punter.

Rant over

Could you not have taken it to an MOT station and had it signed as functioning?

In one 2 year period (when I was young) I was pulled over 17 times. Wrong time wrong place every time.

I think that's a right shame, David.

Not defending the apparent over zealous Policing on this occasion but vehicle stops probably turn up more intelligence and information on a whole range of crimes (like the ones you describe) and they often start with minor driving indiscretions or hunches about driver/ vehicle inconsistencies ( young driver flash car etc)
Sadly on this occasion it looks like they couldn't admit their mistake and send your son on his way with an apology. No wonder you're annoyed

pete wrote:Could you not have taken it to an MOT station and had it signed as functioning?

In one 2 year period (when I was young) I was pulled over 17 times. Wrong time wrong place every time.

Car type is a major factor too. At 19, I had a mint, fully legal Renault 5 GT Turbo. I was a magnet! By 21, I had my (less than mint) Lancia Integrale, not stopped once in five years of (not always legal) ownership. The Lancia was an unknown whereas the 5 was a more obvious hot hatch being driven by a youngster...

pete wrote:Could you not have taken it to an MOT station and had it signed as functioning?

In one 2 year period (when I was young) I was pulled over 17 times. Wrong time wrong place every time.

Yes! If it had been me I wouldn't have accepted it, but when you're young, and have respect for authority, you kind of accept they're right. I just feel the police have now lost Gordon's respect - probably for the rest of his life. Stopping him maybe justifiable in some eyes, but then not to let him on his way when all was well (and seemingly have justify it by finding an imaginary fault) is destroying peoples trust in the police.

Sorry to hear about that, I had a similar experience when I was younger..... Around 12 years ago My pride and joy was an E36 BMW 323 convertible, got pulled over a few times for no apparent reason other than what appeared to be jealousy from police officers who tended to be younger than I was at the time.
I've since had nicer, more expensive cars but never had any bother from the boys in blue.......... I also look much older too so on reflection and given the choice, I'd take harassment and youth! - I hope your lad enjoys his Clio.

David wrote:

pete wrote:Could you not have taken it to an MOT station and had it signed as functioning?

In one 2 year period (when I was young) I was pulled over 17 times. Wrong time wrong place every time.

Yes! If it had been me I wouldn't have accepted it, but when you're young, and have respect for authority, you kind of accept they're right. I just feel the police have now lost Gordon's respect - probably for the rest of his life. Stopping him maybe justifiable in some eyes, but then not to let him on his way when all was well (and seemingly have justify it by finding an imaginary fault) is destroying peoples trust in the police.

...and imagine the opinion Gordon would've had if the officers in question had complimented him on having his car in such fine condition, and sent him on his way thanking him for his time and patience?

Missed opportunity in my opinion

Did he fail the attitude test? Young lad in a fast car early Sunday Morning might of looked suspicious and worth a tug.

Talked my way into points when I was 17. Despite my Dad working for the police.

Can I ask what kind of paperwork was issued to you and what your next step is in closing this off with the police?

Certainly not all officers can issue a PG9 cert, deeming the vehicle unfit for use on the road and I suspect there is a very grey area if an untrained officer deems an exhaust is blowing and it goes to court. I see no credible evidence for a prosecution, unless the officer had specific training in vehicle inspection.

It was a pink slip with the fault description listed as one word 'exhaust'. I'm not sure exactly what the slip was call (I'll have to ask) but I understand it did not prohibit use, just required the fault to rectified within 21 days. At the end of the day, I'm not sure it was all done to the book, but life is too short to fight the system. It's just one more 'life' lesson for Gordon. He'll know better next time.

Would be interesting to look at the details - I believe there are a few mechanisms for rectifying potential faults with cars, but you'd be surprised that some require the driver to "voulenteer" to take a particular course of action, instead of receiving a fixed penalty or prohibition notice.

Back in my younger days, aged 17 and driving a white Sapphire Cosworth every now and again, I went through the mill at the hands of the East Lothian fuzz.... Stopped pretty much every time I was in the car, and a few times had the vehicle inspected at the roadside. In my experience a lot of the officers were plain bullys, and needed standing up to. I never once was at fault, or received any fine or points, but got rapidly sick of the attention under the curcumstances. After I started asking the officers why they'd stopped me *again* in a small town, where all the police really did know me by now, and if they had any certificate of vehicle inspection, the stops magically stopped....

Shame your son had to buy an exhaust though.... I hope it makes the car faster and he gains some experience for the next time it may happen

Not car related but someone at work has an 18 year old son studying in Glasgow. He's was going to the party the other night with a friend and was walking from his flat when he was stopped by the police. He had an open bottle of wine in the bag because he'd had a drink before he left. They slapped a £40 fine on him for carrying an open container of alcohol, even though he wasn't drinking it and it was in a bag, and were laughing and joking about it.

I'd be fuming if that was me. I had no idea that was a law / by-law. It seems like a ridiculous bit of policing,

There's always the chance that he's not told his mum the whole story but I guess he just wouldn't have mentioned it if he'd been at fault.

It does make you think about David's question though - what's in it for the police? I'm sure it's not the type of work they envisaged doing when they signed up.

Too late now, but I would have just cleaned the end of the exhaust and taken it back to the police and told them it had been replaced.

Not surprised. The target based culture is killing off all respect for the police.

Malcolm