Horse riders wearing hi-viz could be arrested for impersonating police

The jackets are pretty much the same as the ones a lot of cyclists wear around London. According to London Met police boss Bob Broadhurst they aren't illegal. Or is it a case of one rule for them and another one for us?
 
Wasn't this all done before? About 3 months ago, and ruled as being totally untrue? I really think its just media sensationalism, and prob not worth the papr it's written on!
 
Yes it was done a while ago and its good the daily mail readers pretty much agree with us all. Was just thinking of my kids in their police uniform as 3 year olds etc and one even had a plastic police car. Plus then there are the stripograms....no doubt banned these days.

And yes I do have one and I think most drivers on our road understand and probably find it cheekily amusing. Particulary when faced with a muddy hairy cob.
 
If you wear one of these jackets continue to do.
Intent will be all if and it's a big if anyone ever gets charged for doing this.
The police do not have the right to decide you cant wear these they don't decide how the courts ( it would be magistrates ) will interperate the law we have common law in England and case law is all.
before that the CPS would have to decide if it was in the public interest to spend money on this.
However I am delighted that there is an area of the UK where crime is so low that a chief constable has time to think about this let's save some money and half the police officers in that area as we clearly don't need them.
 
My horses hardly looks like police horses.

One just jogs constantly, a scrawny 15.2hh TB. The other is as scatty as anything, 16.2hh TB. I'm not going to stop wearing my Polite products, they really do make drivers slow down, and I have been asked if I'm a police officer in the past and I've said no. Looking at a picture of the police officers riding and training horses, compared to the polite range, I really have no idea how they look similar?

And any motorists making complaints are those that will and probably have caused accidents.
 
I have had three drivers speak to me and say I look like police.
I don't wear a polite vest each time I was wearing the same.
Blue breeches black boots blue coat with silver high viz strips And a hi vis exercise sheet and riding a black ID yes he looks just like a police horse.
People being mistaken is not wilfully impersonating a police officer .
 
Glad to seen the comments on that website appear to be overwhelmingly in favour of riders wearing these tabards if they feel it makes them safer.

Yes, there are a couple of valid arguments against, but from what I have seen and read so far the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. (On top of which, I prefer not to kowtow to police jobsworths.)
 
Last edited:
It does not impersonate the police at all, police hi-vis have the word- police on the back, I really do not understand, we wear high-vis to keep us safe.
 
This comment made me laugh!

"So a 12:2 hh Thelwell rider trotting down the lane wearing hi viz vest is going to be arrested parrrffffff"
 
I had a couple of instances where cars slowed down from a good distance but when they got close enough to see it said 'polite' not 'police' they shouted abuse at me and screeched off when level with my horse. I then blacked out the polite wording with a marker pen. Just as many people slow down but since removing the wording I've had no further abuse or people speeding off when they get closer.
I do have a big black ID and people do slow down more when I am riding her than when I ride my other horse so it's easy to see that some people can mistake is for the police when wearing the polite hi viz. All it takes is one idiot to get pi$$ed off because he's fallen for thinking it is the police to then take it out on that rider or the next they come across. Sensible people slow down when they see horses and hi viz just helps them see you sooner, items that fool people into thinking you are the police can antagonise the type of people who will deliberately endanger your horse. After experiencing two negative reactions I personally don't think it's worth the risk irrespective of the legality of wearing it.
 
I am going to get my own made up, but where these ones say polite, mind will say POLICE, but above it, will say ' I AM NOT THE' and below it will say 'BUT SLOW DOWN ANYWAY'
Lets see what they make of that....clearly NOT impersonating then.....

Jokes aside, I love to see them try and prosecute someone for it.
 
The thing is, it's not just the Polite vests that do it!

When I rode Ned to Milton Keynes, the amount of people (ADULTS!) saying "Look at the police horse!" to their kids and each other!

I don't think police horses would have stars on their bums...

This picture was taken a few mins after two women complimented me and referred to us as Police haha!

 
I can kind of see where they are coming from with the 'polite' wording or even the chequered print; the whole marketing behind the polite range is surely that it looks like 'police' from a distance... :rolleyes:

I'm not sure from the newspaper article though, exactly what you are and aren't allowed to do? They mention not only 'polite' but 'please', and yellow jackets! I wear a yellow jacket or a tabard that says 'please pass wide and slow'...if please and yellow are no-no's then I shouldn't be wearing that either!

Whenever I've seen the police out hacking, I always get a wave and a snigger over my xmas tree impression - we're both fully kitted out, and when I've had people on foot, they wear hi-viz too :p

I always think that the idiots who slow down when they see the 'polite' then speed up and get annoyed just have a guilty conscience! The fact that they slow down proves that they know they should - but can't be bothered unless they think there will be consequences...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top