RANT! Cheshire Police

Natch

Natch

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Cheshire - the county with the highest equestrian population. Why doesn't their police force know how to drive around riders?! Today a police car went past me at about 60mph in a 40 zone, in a hurry with blue lights and siren going. I realised he/she wasn't going to even slow down let alone turn off the siren or lights, so managed to get into a gateway just as they came thundering past, didn't even give me a wide berth, so could have ploughed through us easily.
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Its a f***ing good job F is so good in traffic, he just looked at it, but I hate to think how badly that could have ended with a young or remotely spooky horse.
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Even F can have off days.
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This is the second time in 2 months a police car has been stupid around me and the ned. Last time I signalled for a car to slow down, it didn't, then I signalled as I could hear the car behind not slowing down either, when that also sped past me I gave it a very clear rude hand gesture, and it turned out to be a police car
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chasing the first (no siren or lights that time). Its not like we can't be seen, I wear hi-viz and so does he.
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Its really starting to give me a complex about an otherwise ok bit of road that I normally ride on.
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I'm going to write to Cheshire police to let them know what I think of their drivers, I understand they need to get to emergencies quickly, but surely they need to avoid causing a serious or fatal accident on their way!!
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Your thoughts please - am I over reacting? After all, nothing happened to us but its SO dangerous IMO.
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god how scary cant imagine many horses however good remaining calm with sirens and flashing lights. i would definatley contact them and make them aware of risks.
 

On the one hand I'd contact them & let them know of the danger of them doing this but on the other, if they're on a blue lights run & need to get there ASAP then a horse & rider is going to be the least of their worries. As harsh as it sounds they need to be proportionate & if somebody is in real danger they're going to want to get there asap, a horse & rider is not going to occur to them.

It certainly is not ideal & not something I'd want to be caught up in but having a friend in the police I can see both sides of the coin.

Definitely write & make them aware though.
 
i think if they were invoved in a potentially fatal accident involving a horse and rider this would lead to delay in response to 999,so they have to understand potential dangers and risks and look at the big picture.
 
For your own sake, get in touch with the Cheshire Police Control Room
PublicContact@cheshire.pnn.police.uk or 0845 458 0000

Ask to speak to the PAD desk (Public Assistance Desk)

Explain the situation and ask to report " A near miss, high speed incident - involving a marked patrol car"
Make sure you have a fairly accurate location of the incident, the date and the approx time.

Explain the incident in detail to the operator on the pad desk who is required to take a formal complaint from you and pass it to the complaints unit - for driver training assesment.

ALL police drivers - and I mean ALL, that includes anyone within the force nationwide, must pass the approved police driver training - and then a advanced level course for A1 level to enable Blue lighted response driving.
If the officer has seen you on a horse - he is required by law, and trained to silence his/her sirens, slow down - regardless of the response involved - and pass you in the same manner as required by all other motorists - this situation is drummed into all candidates on the course.
If this incident is reported - the officers involved will be requested to attend further training and assessment.
YOUR complaint/report could potentially save a horse & rider from a FATAL road incident, simply by highlighting a need for training.
If nothing gets said - nobody ever gets to know - until a serious accident occurs.

Need further advice? Feel free to pm me
 
Absolutely agree with debs, they are only allowed to sound siren and drive at speed if it is safe to do so. I think if 'naturallys' horse had spooked and thrown her, they would have had been delayed big time. If they had been injured or worse, then they would have been facing a disciplinary. I would def be contacting them. I would write to the chief constable.
 
I must say any police cars that have been approaching me have silenced their sirens and slowed down before passing, that is one good thing I can say about the police in my experience.
 
I have a family friend in the Armed Response Team for Cheshire Police.

I've only been passed a couple of times by police cars, only once when the lights were flashing. They switched them off for me. It's my worst nightmare to hack out and something go past me with it's siren's wailing!

I'd have been pretty shook up too.
 
Thanks everyone, Will definately be taking boltonrider's advice and reporting to the desk. I just keep on thinking, how lucky I was that F didn't react. What a brilliant boy he is!
 
Do they have to turn lights off as well? I was passed today on an A road about 50mph (although I got a wide berth), they turned sirens off but not lights.

Thank christ I was on the good boy, the other one would have ended up on its roof when it saw lights!
 
[ QUOTE ]
For your own sake, get in touch with the Cheshire Police Control Room
PublicContact@cheshire.pnn.police.uk or 0845 458 0000

Ask to speak to the PAD desk (Public Assistance Desk)

Explain the situation and ask to report " A near miss, high speed incident - involving a marked patrol car"
Make sure you have a fairly accurate location of the incident, the date and the approx time.

Explain the incident in detail to the operator on the pad desk who is required to take a formal complaint from you and pass it to the complaints unit - for driver training assesment.

ALL police drivers - and I mean ALL, that includes anyone within the force nationwide, must pass the approved police driver training - and then a advanced level course for A1 level to enable Blue lighted response driving.
If the officer has seen you on a horse - he is required by law, and trained to silence his/her sirens, slow down - regardless of the response involved - and pass you in the same manner as required by all other motorists - this situation is drummed into all candidates on the course.
If this incident is reported - the officers involved will be requested to attend further training and assessment.
YOUR complaint/report could potentially save a horse & rider from a FATAL road incident, simply by highlighting a need for training.
If nothing gets said - nobody ever gets to know - until a serious accident occurs.

Need further advice? Feel free to pm me

[/ QUOTE ]

yup, dad is in the met and occasionaly drives past the mets training centre for neds and a couple of months ago was on a chase which was extremely serious)a colleague was in a marked car infront of him and didnt switch off blues and twos as they drove past 4 horses returning back whereas dad did, he made it known to the driver of the other car if he ever caught him doing it again or heard of him doing again there would be serious concequences, was then also mentioned at there debrief that people would be reprimanded if they continued on blues and twos past horses.
 
It is common sense on the part of any emergency services driver to switch off sirens however, it is not a requirement that lights are turned off aswell. Usually a driver will weigh up every hazard - that is what their driver training drills into them.

I find it quite ignorant, not to say dangerous of the driver who did so and as boltonrider has said, you should complain (he/she obviously knows the system to go through for Cheshire).

I do not know of any drivers that would knowingly do this so I do hope it is a one off - nevertheless, that driver obviously has a training need that you should point out. Don't leave it too late to do it though as events are best fresh in everyones mind.
xx
 
Yes complain, absolutely definitely. This is very naughty of the driver.

We have an ambulance station up the road from us on an industrial park. For some reason the powers that be decided it would be better off based out of the town centre. WITHOUT FAIL they turn off their sirens as soon as they see riders on the road, (lights I'm not so sure about) and pass us with great care and a very wide berth. I will also add they are very kind when they come past on their way back to base.
 
Hi,
I live just down the road from a police station in neighbouring Derbyshire, and I think they must have a policy for riding past horses as they are always very good and switch off their blues & twos and slow down when passing.... what good is getting to an incident quickly if they cause another one on the way?! The only other comment I would make is ALWAYS were a high viz tabard so you can be seen by them from a long way away.
 
Take heed of Bigbirds comments here folks!!!

That hivis could save you a scare!!

When responding on Blues, the driver looks far far ahead, further than most drivers realise! A good old splash of hi vis where ever it'll fit - and plenty of it.... all helps to give that little extra time to be seen.... and possibly the extra thought time to knock off the two tones!!

Did you know.....
When driving at high speed or otherwise.... we see the horses nose or tail before we see the rider???
High Vis tab or jacket is wonderful and should be made compulsory, however a high vis tail band and high vis nose and browbands, combined with leg bands on both horse and rider, will add to the extra three seconds of visibility!!

Want to be more visible when a response vehicle is passing you?.... try and get to a visible place of safety, and have your horse at 45 degress to the approaching vehicle, the bigger you look (wider/longer) the more room you'll be given!! It's a mental response, big horse needs big space....
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Well thanks again everybody, I have followed boltonrider's advice and both phoned and emailed them, got an automated response saying it might take up to 30 days to reply but will let you all know if there are any significant developments.

bigbird - completely second that comment, annoyingly I was and always do wear a high vis & reflective waistcoat and he had a high vis/reflective martingale on, I have always shied away from legbands etc as being too fiddly for everyday riding but will be seriously re-thinking that one, and definately getting a tail reflector, as obviously his martingale didn't help this time as police approached from behind. Who knows, my rimfrost riders are getting on a bit, I might do some creative stuff with them to try a nice high vis stripe down the side of that too lol!
 
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