Had a bit of a dodgy moment in the early hours this morning, was taking an empty toxic tank upto Tilbury when I noticed a dark jag on Irish plates passing me (approx 0430), few minutes later it was on the hard shoulder before passing me again a few miles later.
Nothing too strange at the moment until it happened for the third time. Felt very dodgy so phoned up the police, as well as ensuring my doors were locked, slowed down and tucked myself in next to a couple of other trucks for a bit of extra security. It happened only once more after that.
Thankfully the police kept in constant contact with me and ensured I and the ‘offending’ car were monitored by CCTV until I got to my destination whilst ensuring HA and traffic police were close to hand if anyone was too happen.
Was the only time I have ever felt properly on edge whilst on British roads, we often carry highly dangerous materials so looks like we might have a bit of extra attention in the near future.
its very easy to get a bit over excited about this kind of stuff because we all know that drivers being hi-jacked has happened from time to time , but i always wonder how the hell they are going to stop you with a car .
they may well be way faster than you but you out weigh them ten fold so what are they going to do ?
if it isn’t a police car or a vosa motor then sod them dont stop , and vosa can only ask you to follow them to a vosa station cant they ?
i wouldnt stop for nowt unless it was a marked police car.i remember once when i was a young un,me and a few friends were out in my dads car one night(cavalier sri).whilst waiting to pull out of a junction 2 men in a plain fiesta pulled along side and told me to "just wait there a minute". "■■■■ that" i thought,so i flawed it.the ensueing chase lasted half an hour and took us all round the notts/derbys border,but i couldnt shake them.“i know” i thought,i`ll head for junction 28 and blow the ■■■■■■■ off down the motorway.
anyway,as i approached the roundabout every exit was blocked by a police car,then one pulled in front and another behind.police came rushing to my door and arrested me for twoc.
i told them it was my dads car and that “those ■■■■■ in that fiesta had been chasing me for the past half hour”
the blokes in the fiesta were cid
commonrail:
i wouldnt stop for nowt unless it was a marked police car.i remember once when i was a young un,me and a few friends were out in my dads car one night(cavalier sri).whilst waiting to pull out of a junction 2 men in a plain fiesta pulled along side and told me to "just wait there a minute". "[zb] that" i thought,so i flawed it.the ensueing chase lasted half an hour and took us all round the notts/derbys border,but i couldnt shake them.“i know” i thought,i`ll head for junction 28 and blow the [zb] off down the motorway.
anyway,as i approached the roundabout every exit was blocked by a police car,then one pulled in front and another behind.police came rushing to my door and arrested me for twoc.
i told them it was my dads car and that “those [zb] in that fiesta had been chasing me for the past half hour”
the blokes in the fiesta were cid
thats my point , more or less why would any type of un-marked vehicle of any description try to stop you ? the fact is if you are daft enough to stop for them then so be it , ■■■■ them i say and put a full blown marked up police car infront of me and i’ll stop , failing that take me to court and we’ll see what the judge says . no way on this planet would i stop for anything less than that .
andi_cardiff:
Had a bit of a dodgy moment in the early hours this morning, was taking an empty toxic tank upto Tilbury when I noticed a dark jag on Irish plates passing me (approx 0430), few minutes later it was on the hard shoulder before passing me again a few miles later.
Nothing too strange at the moment until it happened for the third time. Felt very dodgy so phoned up the police, as well as ensuring my doors were locked, slowed down and tucked myself in next to a couple of other trucks for a bit of extra security. It happened only once more after that.
Thankfully the police kept in constant contact with me and ensured I and the ‘offending’ car were monitored by CCTV until I got to my destination whilst ensuring HA and traffic police were close to hand if anyone was too happen.
Was the only time I have ever felt properly on edge whilst on British roads, we often carry highly dangerous materials so looks like we might have a bit of extra attention in the near future.
Sounds like someone having car problems. If they were following you with the intent of doing something dodgy why would they make themselves so conspicuous when they could have just stayed behind you and you probably wouldn’t have even noticed them?
What if it had been UK registered, would you have been less interested?
A long time ago I was coming back to Bradford frm Newcastle with a load of cigarettes for NCL.
On joining the A184M (I think) I noticed a MK11 Cortina behind me (I did say it was a long time ago).
This car stayed behind me for quite a while and as I was getting a bit nervous, I tried slowing down and then speeding up. No change.
So I came off at a roundabout went all the way around and back on again.
Cortina still there.
By this time we are geting near Scotch corner and I was thinking it’s really dark for the next few miles.
Coming through Scotch corner I saw the reflective stripes on a police car parked off the road at the side, so quickly pulled over and stopped.
The police got out of the car and approached me, as did the two men in the Cortina, who then intruduced themselves as British transport Police doing a security check on vehicles operating out of National Carriers depot at Gateshead.
They had only picked on me as the unit I had that night was not fitted with 2 way radio as it should have been, the regular one being U/S.
commonrail:
i wouldnt stop for nowt unless it was a marked police car.i remember once when i was a young un,me and a few friends were out in my dads car one night(cavalier sri).whilst waiting to pull out of a junction 2 men in a plain fiesta pulled along side and told me to "just wait there a minute". "[zb] that" i thought,so i flawed it.the ensueing chase lasted half an hour and took us all round the notts/derbys border,but i couldnt shake them.“i know” i thought,i`ll head for junction 28 and blow the [zb] off down the motorway.
anyway,as i approached the roundabout every exit was blocked by a police car,then one pulled in front and another behind.police came rushing to my door and arrested me for twoc.
i told them it was my dads car and that “those [zb] in that fiesta had been chasing me for the past half hour”
the blokes in the fiesta were cid
my friend had a very similar experiance in leeds, almost identicle to yours.
when they could`nt nick me for anything,the ■■■■■■■■ went round our house and told my dad i had been driving dangerously
when i told my old man the full story he was angry with the thilth,not me
When delvering for Unipart one night a car followed me from Thatcham to Reading, I did the slow down/speed up, they just stayed back. So when I went into the Penta garage, still there at the service road, I thought you can’t pull in there it’s a no way out situation so floored her and went to the police station and told them, but the car had then gone. The officer told me to go back to Penta and he’d send a car incase they were waiting. Sure enough they pulled out of a side road. The last I saw of them was flying up the road to the M4 with a police car chasing them
Phil
About 10 years ago I was doing a run from a small, parcel distribution company in a village near Sleaford to the main hub in Wolverhampton and back every night.
I usually returned about 0400-0430, parked up outside premises and got my head down until 0600 when the staff came in to unload me.
Anyhow, one morning, going up the M42 past Tamworth Services a green van was coming down the on-slip so I pulled out and let him join the motorway.
I pulled back in and carried on with him following me. The truck I had did about 60 mph so I was able to overtake a good few other trucks but each time I overtook one and pulled back in this van did the same.
I didn’t think much of it at the time.
I got to the M1 then went North and came off at East Midlands Airport then the A52 into Nottingham, around the ring road and out onto the A46 and all the time this van sticking right in behind me.
Up to Newark, around the by-pass onto A17 and up to Sleaford and he’s still behind me.
I then take the Skeggy road from Sleaford and still he’s behind me but I’m not too concerned thinking he’s probably off to Skeggy for the weekend or whatever.
I get to Billinghay, where the parcel company is and I have to turn left off the Skeggy road, and it’s about a mile on the left hand side, anyhow, matey turns off as well and now I do start to worry a little.
I get to the company and stop, parking on the road, the van stops behind me and turns his lights off, at this point it is only just starting to get light.
I start scanning the mirrors and there’s no movement from the van so I wait for about 5-10 mins and still nothing.
The road in Billinghay is like a triangle so I start off again up to the top of the road, turn right, to the end, turn right, back down the road toward Sleaford and turn right again back on the road up to the company again.
The van does the same and now I’m starting to crap myself, so I go around the block again thinking if I keep moving I’ll be ok.
I go around the block one more time and on the last turning right, he’s right up close and I look out the window and see all his windows including front screen are completely blacked out so now I panic a bit not knowing who or how many people are in this van.
I dial 999, get through to the police, explain what’s happened and they tell me they’ve got no one in the area but can get to me in about 20mins and tell me to keep moving.
About 30 mins later I get a call to see whats happening and they are just coming into Billinghay.
I see their blue lights behind me as I’m taking the last turn right and matey in the van speeds off towards Sleaford with them giving chase so I go around one more time then head off down that road and in the next village, North Kyme, the police have the van stopped against a wall and the driver handcuffed.
I stopped and got out and the copper came over and said that the driver was the only person in the van.
His story to the police was he was escaping the civil war in Birmingham, and I was his leader and God told him to follow me to the end of the earth.
I got a call about a week after saying that he had been sectioned indefinitely(mental health) and they were not pressing charges.
Not knowing what was behind the blacked out windows was the worst part of it.
As a side issue to my post, a few weeks later I was already in Penta and had closed the heavy gates as you couldn’t see the truck from outside. While in the middle of dropping cages I noticed the gates were open , so I grabbed my crow bar and crept down the side of the wall where I could hear voices and see car lights around the corner. So at a count of 3 I charged, bar in hand. One took off running and the other was still in his car, coffee all over the windscreen laughing madly at his friend, who was slowly creeping back towards me, scared s******s, now looking, I could see his uniform, and then his mate in the van, mobile security After the following incident, Unipart had hired them to watch my delivery slot but nobody told me !!!
Phil
well andi-cardiff if what you did made you feel better at the time i for one would do it again, its easy for people to say you over reacted and as they were not there they dont know how it felt. and anyway they would not come to your funeral either mate.
I have heard of drivers telling me that while working in Italy,that they been have ■■■■■■■ to trees while their truck was unloaded of the contents,with their cab contents untouched,and some rumour of glass granules rubbed in the drivers eyes if they did not oblige with the mafias wishes,and more stories of the truck being spotted a few years later,but painted up in a different colour,and the driver saw that it was his same truck.
glenman:
could the car not have been having some sort of problems ? what makes you think it actually had anything to do with you and your empty tank ?
The car could indeed have had mechanical problems but it is better to be safe than sorry. Terrorists will do anything to get their hands on toxic material so although it may seem a bit over the top I think he did the right thing.
why would any type of un-marked vehicle of any description try to stop you ? the fact is if you are daft enough to stop for them then so be it , ■■■■ them i say and put a full blown marked up police car infront of me and i’ll stop , failing that take me to court and we’ll see what the judge says . no way on this planet would i stop for anything less than that .