Stopped by Police?

Watched a girl on a bianchi yesterday coming down the hill from Manor House getting waved to by a copper as she stopped in the middle of the red light she was jumping to let the car with flashing lights go past and then carry on.

You should reliably inform the police that swearing at them is exempt from the provisions of Section 5 of the Public Order Act, as it is a defence that "The defendant had no reason to believe that there was any person within hearing or sight who was likely to be alarmed or distressed by his action."

The CPS, ACPO and higher courts have gone on record to state that a Police constable will may not be likely to be alarmed or distressed by naughty words.

They'll really hate you if you spout that at them.
They WILL hate it, but it isn't like kryptonite. You can definitely be convicted of a public order offence, even if it's only a copper on the receiving end. The courts do say it's not likely an officer would be caused harassment / alarm / distress, and wouldn't be impressed by an officer claiming he was upset by a scruffy cyclist using fruity language.

In any event, being arrested and interviewed on tape isn't much fun, even if you never end up getting charged...

Save yourself the hassle, do your best to pass the attitude test.

I got a 30 quid fixed penalty and a lecture from some twat last night. I safely slipped through the red lights on whitechapel road after checking there were no peds then busted the left which leads to brick lane. Tootled down there and then turned left down the road which leads to the back of the old brewery (which was a no entry) into 14 bikes. Bumped into crazy James and some friends, including some peeps from the southeast drinks including the chap with the impressive tache. Have a look around in 14, almost buy a mini d but realise they are a fiver cheaper in blb so head down there. I back track back brick lane and continue down it. I then become aware of a large vehicle hovering behind me, so being the considerate chap that I am, pull over to let it pass. At which point I hear "would you mind getting off the bike sir?" bollocks.

I tried to deny it was me (as they had not been with me continuously) at which point he threatened to rewind the tape so I just went with the flow. He then asked me my name and I said "err, Joe Smith" at which point he gave me a very suspicious look. Had to get my work pass out to prove I really did have a comedy name!

I think I am just gonna pay it, unless anyone knows of any loop holes??

that s*ckz! pay it, it's not worth trying to get out of it IF they have it on tape. hence why i would say "Yes Please!" in that moment, just to see whot they have on you. (and may be hit the record button to overwrite your street session ;) well next time!

Years ago when i got stopped running a red I was told that if the coppers wanted to get arsey and you had a driving licence they could take you to court and you could end up with points on your licence, don't know if it is still true but when jumping a red these days I always have a quick look around to see if there are any coppers about.

That's bollocks.

I thought it was one of those things that was a law, but that the police never actually bothered to do?

Happened to me a few times - once in Regents Park when i got 'off' with a lecture and a warning and once inthe City when i got a £30 fixed penalty and a lecture! City cops don't seem tohave much else to do, others you just have to be lucky.

Twice i've been stopped by police for jumping a red, and twice they were just cautions. They gave me some piece of paper to read ... some sort of police/cycling initiative thing.

The first time the copper said 'if we catch you again, you'll be fined'. Amusing because;

1. They didn't take my details
   
2. I was caught again and I wasn't fined :)
   
   

They were nice about it on both occasions though, even after I explained I felt safer jumping a red light as opposed to waiting for the green.

If you blatanty RLJ in front of the police ,whether you are aware of them being there or not , they will be obliged to pull you up because you've done it in front of other road users who probably think you should be 'stopped for that'.

there are a few threads on this i think, but this actually happened to me today and the cop asked me if i wanted him to "scrape my remains off the road with a fork and mail them to my parents." i managed not to talk back.. but what a weirdo. a fork?

Either that or a fruit knife...

Years ago when i got stopped running a red I was told that if the coppers wanted to get arsey and you had a driving licence they could take you to court and you could end up with points on your licence, don't know if it is still true but when jumping a red these days I always have a quick look around to see if there are any coppers about.

I heard that the only bicycle offence that you could get points on your driving license for is "drunk in charge of a bicycle". I have done some googling and found mixed results

The special cuntstables say no
http://www.policespecials.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24997

The petrol heads say yes
http://www.policespecials.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24997

I guess the cunts...tables are more likely to be right..?

went out for a ride after the football, going by london wall near barbican, museum of london on the underpass and i catch the back end of a amber changing to red.. i notice a bmw police pursuit car on the left and think i'm ok.. a few seconds later he flashes me by the roundabout by the museum of london and gives me a lecture and issues me a £30 fine.. i pleaded my case but it fell on deaf ears.

top it off i got a puncture about 30 min later by the olympic village.

fuckin' jobsworth!

The worst thing about those fixed penalty fines is actually trying to pay them over the phone, takes fuckin ages and its an 0845 number or something, so costs loads.. Oh and a word of warning once you do actually manage to get it paid they only give you the reference number for the payment once, and its usually done extremely quickly.. Had three of these in about the past month, but as i've been riding around london for about 7-8 years now i guess thats not a bad average..
I have to say that it has made me think twice about jumping a red too.

just paying my fixed penalty for going through a red on the corner of old bailey and holborn... grrr... The lights are so slow to change there and I always peek through while the pedestrians are crossing and carr yon once it goes green. The bobby wasn;t having any of it though :(

But on a fixed you can see 15 seconds into the future, and can therefore avoid any police interaction whatsoever.

Police uniforms have special qualities that warp fields of clairvoyance around them rendering them invisible to precognition. You can't see them until it's too late.

Hi to you all -and in particular to those of you that don't add to the SH*T name that cyclists sometimes have to endure.A word of caution from an old sod to all of you that risk your necks running red lights.I hope the Copper that stops you- does not stop you DEAD; literally;underneath the car.It strikes me some of you are the lucky ba**tards that survived the railway line & pedestrian crossing Chicken Bets when you were little children, and later as immature and irresponsible young adults. You still have no respect for the real potential victim!!;the one that you choose to dice with, or for that matter any understanding of the effects on that poor sod if they are successful in ONE STRIKE & YOUR DEAD.

Thank you for for that largely incomprehensible rant.

Now go to the toilet, get some tissue and wipe the spittle off your screen.

Another quality post there mate, well done, top marks, olympic medal, bronze star, golden handshake...

I did it once, outside Liverpool St police station, and just as I went I saw the the police motorbike swing across in front of me from the other side of the road. Stern words given to me from the copper and he made sure that everyone around us knew I was getting a bollocking, like he wasn't talking to me but giving a speech to the Vatican. I got off with a telling off, but he got off from his power trip of telling me how "the local judge doesn't like cyclists" and "how would you like it if your Mum got knocked over by a bike and killed?". The most infuriating one was him saying "You didn't even see me pull in front of you on the bike, did you? You didn't stop pedalling, just carried on straight at me". I gave up trying to explain that it's very hard to freewheel on a fixed gear.

Anyway, it was stupid of me to RLJ, more so to do it in front of a police station and did leave me walking off doing a joey face at myself.

RLJ threads:

bikeradar.com is over there --->

Hi to you all -and in particular to those of you that don't add to the SH*T name that cyclists sometimes have to endure.A word of caution from an old sod to all of you that risk your necks running red lights.I hope the Copper that stops you- does not stop you DEAD; literally;underneath the car.It strikes me some of you are the lucky ba**tards that survived the railway line & pedestrian crossing Chicken Bets when you were little children, and later as immature and irresponsible young adults. You still have no respect for the real potential victim!!;the one that you choose to dice with, or for that matter any understanding of the effects on that poor sod if they are successful in ONE STRIKE & YOUR DEAD.

Off fuck.

Rearrange these words into a popular sentence

Hi to you all -and in particular to those of you that don't add to the SH*T name that cyclists sometimes have to endure.A word of caution from an old sod to all of you that risk your necks running red lights.I hope the Copper that stops you- does not stop you DEAD; literally;underneath the car.It strikes me some of you are the lucky ba**tards that survived the railway line & pedestrian crossing Chicken Bets when you were little children, and later as immature and irresponsible young adults. You still have no respect for the real potential victim!!;the one that you choose to dice with, or for that matter any understanding of the effects on that poor sod if they are successful in ONE STRIKE & YOUR DEAD.

it's at times like these that people need a little context. I was traveling at 2 mph over a junction on which all traffic was red-light while pedestrians (there were two) crossed. I agree there are probably cyclists that give the rest of us a bad name but I'm not narrow-minded enough to cat-call at people for something I know nothing about (in the instance stated).

Wow. It's hard to respond to this without coming across as crass and unsympathetic to those with learning disabilities or mental health issues.

So apologies in advance when I say "Who pulled your chain, you mentalist window licker?".

Eh eh eeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh!