Undercover Police

[Edin430]

Strange one this morning...

Driving along towards the west approach road along the straight before the junction to turn off to Gorgie. Fellow Edinburgers will know this junction but for those that dont it's a two lane road either side that gives you the option for two right turns (one for Gorgie then for Sainsburies) then to follow straight on or 1 left turn and then to follow straight on, merging into one lane further down (the worst road set up possibly ever btw)...

Anyway parked in the right lane to go straight over, as nothing infront of me and the left merges into the right further up.. About 3 or 4 cars in the left lane who pull in behind me once we get onto the single bit of road. No I didnt speed at all to get in front.. All of a sudden, Silver Pug 306 overtakes (on the other side of the road) every car but mine.. Then neatly pulls in behind me after almost driving the car behind me off the road.

Checked my speed and still bang on the money so just assumed it was some boy racer wanting to play which I obviously declined.. Or someone who thought they better not try to overtake the Lotus!

Up onto the west approach (40mph) and it's now sitting right up my arse, and I mean right up my arse Only then I noticed it was two police officers in the front seat..... They then start to overtake me but do a kinda brake/accelerate brake/accelerate move like they are egging me on to not let them past. I just look straight on and keep driving. Then they absolutely floor it (good 60mph) until they are around the bend when it goes back into two lanes and they immediately drop back down to 40mph, sit in and follow me again

Never changed my speed or put a single foot wrong the whole time and they eventually turned off on Lothian Road when I kept going up towards the meadows...

Has anyone else experienced this before??? Are they allowed to try and provoke me (or at least that's how I saw it) into braking the law? I thought the way they were driving so close to me was extremely dangerous.. And ironically its the only reason I could see they were police officers.. As they had black fleeces on, but had Police wrote on the chest in smallish writing. Otherwise I would have just thought it was the usual tossers you get round town.

I'm obviously no angel and someone has seen me clocking tuts on that same road but this time I really did do nothing wrong ...

Anyway - a car to take note of if nothing else

Lewis

[tut]

Were you not tempted to slam your brakes on to avoid the cat that ran across the road?

tut

[cloggie]

Thats exactly what i was thinking tut
TVR here we come
Simmilar thing happened to me with a new silver X5 last month through Glasgow dont know what it was all about either

[Edin430]

Had this before too, must be same guys. They were trying to force me to use bus lanes in Sighthill, their driving was that bad I stopped to speak to them and realised it was cops. I should have reported it at the time

Same car as well?

I was thinking about reporting them as well but wonder if it's worth it.. Just make myself a target

And yes I did think about applying the brake yes but don't have the balls to hurt my car

[Peter76]

It's easy for me to say report them, but if this happens often enough the Police will realise they have a couple of dodgers working for them and they'll get the boot with enough complaints.

I think i'd probably report them. It would be difficult for them to target you. They would have to have a valid reason for putting a 'flag' on your car.

[Rich H]

Write to Chief Constable airing your concerns about being targeted for reporting these gits. There is no need for it.

[mwmackenzie]

Hehehe, they like to rag the unmarked buckets...... I once saw a couple of cops handbrake a purple, P plate fiesta 1.1l and brive up blair st the wrong way... It's a one way.... I was working the door at faith at the time and they came back and stopped for a wee chat... the seemed to be haveing a whale of a time... oh to be able to get away with such shennannagans...... Aparently something was going down and that was the shortest route but a patrol car got there first or so they said hahahaha

[ryanaldo13]

I've not seen this myself, i'll have a look out for this in future. Have heard reports from biker's that the cops will try to provoke and race you on an unmarked bike, suppose it's time to use cars for the same purpose.

[Edin430]

I do know that they have taken a big done up saxo up to Edinburgh Cruise at Hermi Gate one time.

As they watched my big brother doing handbrake turns then pulled him over on the way out and put an Asbo on his car

Sneaky bar stewards... But in the end - no one should be braking the law I guess no matter how much they are provoked.

And no I wasn't there not my thing

[pete]

I do know that they have taken a big done up saxo up to Edinburgh Cruise at Hermi Gate one time.

As they watched my big brother doing handbrake turns then pulled him over on the way out and put an Asbo on his car

Sneaky bar stewards... But in the end - no one should be braking the law I guess no matter how much they are provoked.

And no I wasn't there not my thing

Inexcusable behaviour IMHO.

Pete

[Corranga]

Surely the police exist firstly to prevent crime, and certainly not to watch it happen in the case of the above post, or provoke it in the case of the original post...

I think this is utterly inexcusable, and would like to hope that any member of the police force doing breaking any laws (inc. dangerous driving) gets the book for it!

Pathetic.

Chris

[H8OAG]

The police do take reports like that seriously if you choose to complain

I got involved with "Central Scotland's" finest when I reported them to the Fiscal in Stirling for driving like lunatics in unmarked volvo cars on the M9

Basically they were selecting target cars on the outside lane and tailgating them till they either pulled over to the inside lane or (what I witnessed) floored it in an effort to rid themselves of the crazy Volvo driver

I reported the event to the fiscal as one angry Subaru driver was "pushed to well over 100 tuts" when he tried to leave the volvo.......He was obviously pulled over once he hit the magical three numbers

The Subaru driver was admonished (My mate is a criminal lawyer in Stirling had just been contacted by this driver who was claiming he was goaded into speeding by an unmarked car)

I still have the letter from the Fiscal stating he would treat the matter very seriously if Central Scotland's finest decided on any form of revenge/retaliation in my direction for reporting their money making enterprise

[D4CHK]

I had the joy of this experience about 10 years ago in Fairmilehead, Edinburgh
An unmarked car sitting up my exhaust, which I didnt realise was the boys in blue, so was stupid enough to drop it down a couple of cogs and head off into the night. They did their best to keep up, then when they realised they had lost out the blue lights came on! In fairness, I was well above the disqual limits, and took their option of a fixed penalty. In hindsight, should have gone to court and argued the point, but was in the car on my own and no real witnesses!

[Edin430]

As per Scooby example - you could tell that is exactly what they were wanting me to do....

Another funny point that I've not mentioned is the fact the back end of the car was soo dirty I couldn't make out the reg

Spoke to someone today who thinks he knows the driver in question and has said that the tailgating is a classic way of trying to get the other car to break the law

May write a letter yet....

[Sanjøy]

999
"I am being car jacked, and they are wearing fake police uniforms, help"