Do they have to be actually visible such as the mobile speed vans or even when they are operating a speed gun from a police car? I could be wrong but I may have been caught yesterday when I was on my way back from the airport about 600 yards from the house 
Come off the M1 at junction 37 and heading towards Barnsley you get to a big set of lights next to some playing fields. I was doing 35-37mph and it was 12:30am and as I’m passing the playing fields I see a Police BMW with about a foot of front end poking out from behind a high bush, totally hiding it from the road also had no side/headlights on.
I was doing roughly the same speed when I passed so I don’t know if they were doing speed checks would I get a NIP? If I do could I contest it on the police vehicle not being visible and showing no lights? Before any of the do gooders and Mr perfects comment I’m not after the sympathy vote or the " serves you right" comments. I just think it’s a ■■■■■trick on a deserted road at gone midnight I could get a ticket from coppers in a car hiding behind a bush with no lights on for being just over the limit.
Funny I never see them parked there at throwing out time at the large school on the same road
Your last sentence being the pertinent one! 
you should be ok pal, 
you professional killer juggernaut driver! 
think of the children next time, at that time! 
I would say probably safe as, if it was a speed trap, they would have given you the ticket there and then. I think it is only the vans where you wait for it through the post.
I was watching a police program a couple of weeks ago and the copper on that was parked down a lane on the side of the A1 pointing his speed gun over 1 hedge across a field then over another hedge, no driver on the A1 would have seen him.
I don’t think they have to be visible but I don’t think there’s much chance of you getting a ticket. He would probably of pulled you over at the time so he could get the breathalyser out. He was probably parked there for another reason
Plod skiving off,probably having a ■■■break…
Only the mobile units ie vans and fix cameras issue tickets through the post… if its the plods, they aint pulled you…nothing to worry about…
There’s one locally who parks his police motorcycle in a side road and sits on the wall on the opposite side (without his jacket) holding a speed gun. Then when someone comes around he casually (while sat on the wall) holds his speed gun up to take a reading.
Btw guys this is less than 1 mile from the stockyard !!
As far as I know the guidelines say they should be visible but I believe 2 forces in the uk ignore this and hide or make themselves not obviously visible. I saw a motorcyclist hidden round a bend once this to me does nothing for slowing drivers down just catches them. To me this is deliberate entrapment but im sure they would tell you different. If they were visible people wouldnt speed but then they wouldnt get their revenue would they.
Trucker56:
As far as I know the guidelines say they should be visible but I believe 2 forces in the uk ignore this and hide or make themselves not obviously visible. I saw a motorcyclist hidden round a bend once this to me does nothing for slowing drivers down just catches them. To me this is deliberate entrapment but im sure they would tell you different. If they were visible people wouldnt speed but then they wouldnt get their revenue would they.
Compleat tosh.
How the hell do you think they use unmarked cars
A lot of forces don’t pull unless speed is so high it’s classed as dangerous. So you could get a nop but prob not as they were prob having a break .
Don,t worry unless they are behind you or pointing a radar gun at you you’re in the clear.
The ones to worry about are the camera vans, the laser camera has a range of 1000 meters which are followed up by a series of photographs as evidence, also the APCO guidelines can allow unto 10%+2MPH before issuing a penalty.
Car speedometers are not calibrated and an allowance has to be made for this, without exception they show a higher speed than that being travelled.
Probably having a break, or waiting for someone to pass by.
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
I was doing roughly the same speed when I passed so I don’t know if they were doing speed checks would I get a NIP? If I do could I contest it on the police vehicle not being visible and showing no lights?
No. No requirement even for the vehicle to have markings or there to be any roadsigns warning of speed cameras in the area. The only difference between places where there are and where there aren’t is where the money from the fines end up. Where they’re signed etc it ends up going to the local safety camera partnership, where they’re not it goes to central government.
The only requirement in law is that the speed detection devices is calibrated and used as instructed so things like not trying to get people further than the maximum range the speed gun is supposed to be used at.
mike68:
Car speedometers are not calibrated and an allowance has to be made for this, without exception they show a higher speed than that being travelled.Probably having a break, or waiting for someone to pass by.
No allowance has to be made for car speedos because by law they cannot legally under-read. The ACPO guideline is just that, a guideline. It holds no weight in law. Its merely a tolerance decided amongst Chief Constables so they’re not nicking people for just momentarily drifting a couple of MPH over the limit.
you will know if you have a n.i.p. for a private vehicle its two weeks notification if its a company vehicle its three months
as for the 10mph plus 2% they like to give you enough rope to hang yourself dont take it as cast in stone its not 1mph over the set limit is speeding
while were on the subject what is the speed limit though elkersley on th a1 north of newark i presume its still 50 even after all the road improvements only one camera there now but that is invalid as no check lines on the road other 3 have been taken out
With regards to the police vehicle being marked it does not have to be, South Yorks Police have a tolerance up to 34 mph in a 30 limit.
the officers in the car may not have had a speed gun, but they may have used the on board speed equipment where they use 2 fixed points over a certain distance if this method was used you would have been stopped there and dealt with.
I couldn’t really tell if they had a speed gun aimed at the road due to it being 12:30am and them hid almost completely behind the bush, however I could see a red dot like a laser light lurking in the car which could’ve been the speed gun?
Having recently sat in on a speed awareness course ( 
), we were told that a police officer with a hand held detector can be anywhere - behind a hedge, behind a wall, in a doorway etc and doesn’t need to be visible.
We were also told that the speeding enforcement is up to the local chief constable. Hence one area, North Wales I think, where the chief constables own daughter had been sadly killed by a speeding driver, they had a zero tolerance policy to speeding.
So, in theory on his patch a vehicle doing 31mph in a 30 limit area would attract a ticket although how rigid that is I don’t know.
peirre:
There’s one locally who parks his police motorcycle in a side road and sits on the wall on the opposite side (without his jacket) holding a speed gun. Then when someone comes around he casually (while sat on the wall) holds his speed gun up to take a reading.Btw guys this is less than 1 mile from the stockyard !!
There used to be a copper on Penistone Road in Sheffield (before it was dualled) who nearly every morning before 8am pretended to be crouching alongside his machine tinkering with the engine but actually had a speed gun on the seat pointing at oncoming traffic. Whenever a speeding motorist went past he soon lept on the 'bike and gave chase, he got a good haul before folk got wise to him!
Pete.
Notimetoulouse:
while were on the subject what is the speed limit though elkersley on th a1 north of newark i presume its still 50 even after all the road improvements only one camera there now but that is invalid as no check lines on the road other 3 have been taken out
Check lines on some cameras have been built in to the lens so that puts that out the window
I know Steve didn’t ask for ‘saints of the road’ - don’t speed etc. but I find that the most relaxing drive is to obey speed limits and take in the surrounding sights…of which there can be many whatever takes your fancy Better than looking everywhere for police and not taking anything else in.
I was on Bochum parkway in Sheffield other week in the car and wife was passenger. Cars flying past me and she asked my speed, I told her I was doing 40 mph (ridiculous limit in my opinion on that road ) but it turns out that there are only 2 people that do the speed limit on there…me and her Dad
I do nearly 2000 miles every week at work and in my opinion some speed limits are wrong and need looking at. I’ve been into Derbyshire/Peak district and the Pennines this week and 50 mph speed limit and some cases national speed limit 
are way too fast even in a car. An inexperienced driver will/maybe see that sign and do it - an experienced driver will drive according to conditions etc. **
** replace driver with licence holder when necessary!
Wouldn’t have been a speed trap.
If he was hiding and unlit I would expect he was waiting for someone in particular.