stopped by the police on my horse!!

A tad biased don't you think? and if you read some figures on the judiciary and ethnic representation within this country....I think you will find only a very small percentage of black and Asians are in the legal profession. In fact possibly a higher representation are in the Police force.
I digress.... I am shocked and maybe as well as complaining, I would make some enquiries as to what the correct procedure should have been.
These Police officers, were indeed idiotic in my opinion.
 
susan_w, I don't agree with the post that Pedantic made at all, but under the circumstances I think the OP has every right to slate the police officers involved. Don't you??!
 
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No need to generalise about police, I am sure many of them are just fine, and I agree the rudeness about police in general uncalled for.
However, these *particular* policemen were out of order and in all probability breaking all kinds of laws themselves, and that is insupportable.
Their behaviour must be reported and highlighted, in the interests of the safety of others.
 
I think its a difficult situation here and no offence but some of your opinions on the police are Sh*t and you shouldnt tarnish all of them with the same brush; especially as they will be the first person you run to if your horse gets stolen!

The reason they probably came back on you is because you mouthed at them when they went past! Situations like that are bad enough but are likely to be escalated if the rider kicks up a stink, and yes i no you like to kick the heads in of stupid drivers dont we all!
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As you said they came fast round a corner if they had been on a call they wouldnt be going slowly and wouldnt of seen you before hand, what would you prefer they carried on round fast or they slammed there brakes on skidded and had even less control of there vehicle.

I would of thought dont quote me that it becomes a Standard procedure to request to see a passport when a horse is involved no different from a driving license; and with the amount of horse thefts going on lately do you not think its a pretty good idea! Had they noticed you gave them the wrong passport you are lucky you didnt get done for wasting police time even on an angry outburst its probbaly not a good idea!

I'd complain because there attitude stinks, but i doubt anything will be done about it. Oh n btw they lights would of been left on to alert other drivers there was an incident up ahead and to slow down.

I know ive rambled on a bit here but its not a surprise the police are struggling when the general publics perception stinks, ok there are a few idiots out there in uniforms but most are trying to help, i know several police officers and they work their arse off to try and help people and without them we would have nobody and the country wud be a bigger hole than it is now!
 
Why dont you PM The_Watcher

She'll be able to give good sound advice as to the best procedure to follow for complaining etc.

As to the actual incident, you coped really well. I'd have gone to pieces!
 
I sympathise with Pedantic, as it does sound a ridiculous situation, but what Pedantic said was "so this proves that the police are d**k Heads and passport are not worth having", which is not really fair.

Now if she'd said "so this proves that "THESE" police are d**k Heads and passport are not worth having", then I would have agreed.
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(sorry just being Pedantic, but don't really want to be her, as she gets stopped by the police)
 
My husband has just read this....shaken his head and said that maybe the tread on your horses shoes was below a certain depth....or maybe the emissions were not quite right...did they check for you running your horse on red diesel? He would have loved to see them try and clamp you!
But seriously...have some chocolate and try and take some deep breaths....A very unpleasant encounter!
 
i took both passports into the station but lady on the desk looked at teds which was on the top. so they couldn't have noted the horses colour. i thought that passports were went to help stop horses getting stolen but the officer who stopped me didn't have a microchip scanner or Farmkeys phone number as jacks microchipped and freeze marked. and if i had the passport with me when i was stopped whats the chances of the officer knowing what a whirl was ?
 
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he then asks me for jacks passport !!!!! i said that he has a passport at home and that its not required to be carried when hes being hacked out. he insists that i should have it so i say "what you gonna do impound my horse?" he then give me a producer saying i have to take his passport to local station to prove that i have one for him or i will be arrested.

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Haven't read all the posts but what a complete £$%^&*(, I'm almost too embarassed to admit to being in the job. There is also no such thing as a 'producer' for a horse's passport, not to my knowledge unless they do things differently in Wales. PM me if you feel like a proper rant
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Hmmm....I guess these particular Police Men were far too busy avoiding tackling any of the REAL problems in Britain (like drugs/car stealing/rapists/muggers) - by picking on a lone female in a vulnerable position.
Has anyone else thought of that angle? If I had been stopped riding alone by 2 men I'd have been really intimidated - these men are supposed to be upholding the law, protecting the public and not harassing single, law-abiding citizens.
 
send that one to H&H letters, got to worth a bottle of champers i think! how absolutely ridiculous. good for you for sticking up for yourself... definitely pursue it, try to have a meeting with chief constable if you can i think. the copper deserves a reprimand for that, definitely.
 
Te he, LOL!!
Just as a technical thing though, I thought passports were inspected by Trading Standards not the police (they are if your horsebox is stopped to check them), does this mean the police can even ask to check them while you are out hacking... as legally you don't need them to hack out ?!
As for the comments about slating the police, I think it's always best to treat them with 'respect' as they can arrest you after all, but unfortunately as a law abiding citizen, victim of crime and small business owner, I have little/ no respect for them now. Sorry, but they've never done anything to help me and seem more intent on giving out speeding tickets than catching criminals!
 
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There was another thread somewhere on here, about a Police car passing horses at speed and with blues and twos going. There is a regular poster on the forum who appears to be a Police Officer and he recommended reporting the incident to the Police Authority concerned. It seems the Police themselves, even when responding to an emergency call, must abide by the Highway Code and a failure to abide means retraining for the Police driver.

I have never had trouble on horseback, but have had enough dealing in the past with regards to firearms to know that some Police Officers will make up the rules as they go along, if it suits their purpose.

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It was my post about Cheshire police going past me in a not too different situation. Don't know how to find it and put the link here, but if anyone can then I was given some good advice on there.

Boltonrider was the one who gave me the advice, he's not actually a policeman but is involved in the emergency services and knows his stuff.

I must post a follow up to that, Its definately worth complaining to your local PAD desk, the action that got taken following mine hopefully will prevent a similar situation happening again.
 
My OH is from anglesey and he knows this black ford focus well! He says it has a baby on board sticker in the back window!
I think this is awful, my horse would have gone mental if this had happened to me. As you had time to signal to slow down twice and put your horse into shoulder in i think they had plenty of time to slow down. I also cant see that they can have been responding to a urgent call if they had time to stop you over this!
I have no issues with the police, my best friend was in the force and i know the cr*p they have to deal with, but this is ridiculous!
I would have called them much worse than idiots too! Would have refused to get off my horse in such a busy area, im hardly likely to make a quick getaway!
I would definately take it further, and good luck!
 
Well done for speaking up for yourself
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I have a friend who ran a management consultancy and she used to run training for policemen, one of the tests they had to do was basic intelligence (IQ type thing) if they passed then they could apply for higher rank etc. Most of them would fail and she used to have to 'fake' their results at the request of their superiors
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just to point out i'm not a police hater 90% of police officers are great but 10% are of the understanding that they're god as they are in a uniform , and that 10% seem to work in wales. my little girls soon to be godfather is an armed police officer .
 
I had a very similar experience with the police recently and it really annoyed me, they made me feel like a ten year old child and almost reduced me to tears although I had done nothing wrong.
That is really shocking, I complained too needless to say the younger officer lied to cover up for the one who was being a t*sser! which made me even more mad.
 
there are so many things that shock me about your experience! I can't believe it! The fact they were going so fast when obviously not in a hurry, ignoring your signals, that they put lights and sirens on rather than just pull up, that they even dare lecture you about road safety, let alone asking you to get off your horse! If your horse wasn't so good, I'd dread to think what could've happened.
The passport thing is utter nonsense! I'd take it further, alot further! I'd complain until I got an apology from these officers! Totally unacceptable!
 
i'm so glad that i was on jack hes not been ridden since last may and is just being brought back into work after i had a baby in jan. so hes still a bit jumpy but i know hes safe (well i do now thats for sure) what started off as a relaxing ride for me to have a break from the baby turned into a nightmare.
 
You poor thing, I am not suprized you are still a bit shaken. I would definatly complain and carry it through.

Few weeks ago I was hacking on a strange horse, mate on my horse and I heard sirens. Couldnt see police car and they couldnt see us as there was a blind bend up ahead. As soon as they saw us they went from doing about 60mph to about 20 and turned sirens off and lights. Lights went back on after they had passed us but kept sirens off until they were quite a way away.
 
Write to the Professional Standards Department and copy your letter to the Chief Constable's office, and to the Chairman of the Police Authority (Kelvin Dent, if you are in NW Police area). As you are a road user, the police have a perfect right to stop you, but they do not have the right to abuse their position, which is what this sounded like, unfortunately.

Did you get this officer's number? If he gave you a producer, it should be on there.
 
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on the producer he crossed out where it said car reg and make and put large white horse!!

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You are pulling my leg, I hope!

Seriously whilst it seems a few members of this forum like to blatantly slag off the Police, spare a thought for the fact they may have had no idea of what they were on about (sounds very possible) and tried to 'wing' it as a means of telling you off.

I know their attitude wasn't right, there are morons in every walk of life, but to actually move your horse further over into the road was a bit daft. It could just as easily have been a drink driver as a Police vehicle, they wouldn't have reacted as you'd hoped and could well have killed both of you.

I would probably have also stopped to offer some timely advice I just think his method was wrong, just be sure you were completely in the right before you put pen to paper.

As for those few who just want to insult officers on this forum by describing them as 'thick' etc etc perhaps they would like to pm me as I'm well able to stand my corner and am getting a bit tired of the snidey sideways digs.
 
I did all this and i suspect they will claim a different version of events - which is what happened in my case- one backs the other up and its their word against yours. I ended up having two friends who witnessed the event back me up and it made no different and I have since been stopped in my car 3 times in the past 6 months.
 
Sounds like these guys resented being caught out. I would definately complain regarding their driving, their attitude in sounding the siren and flashing blue lights, not taking your concerns re stopping on the road seriously and their lack of knowledge with regards passport regulations.

I had a recent run in with an idiot policman I was out with the dog warden trying to catch a stray dog that had been running loose with a pup for several days. The puppy was caught and the bitch sedated, but her adrenaline was overiding it and she fled. The police called laterto say the dog had been located near the highway. The dogwarden told the police under no circumstances should anyone aproach the dog. When we arrived there must have been 10 - 15 people all crwding round the bushes trying to get hold of the bioch. When the dog warden asked him if he could ask the people to move back he threw a hissy fit saying they were helping - the dogwarden saidf ok, I will leave it to you if you think you know better and he threatened to report the dog warden. We were speechless.

Just because they are police officers, doesnt automaticaly mean they are right.
 
when i went to foot follow the local hunt,there were 3 police cars in a gate way ,each with 2 coppers in.,they spent all morning chatting amongst themselves and just `hanging out`in the country side.
they were still there in the afternoon and were practicing their wheel spins in said gateway when we were on the way home and the hunt was miles away.
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i know it sounds silly to shoulder in in this situation. but i have to explain that jacks version of a shoulder in is to just to bend his neck so his tracks didn't change, i was told to do this when i did my bhs road safety many years ago.
 
Like everyone else I found your tale utterly beyond belief. I will show it to my daughter who is a PC, also a rider, for her comments. I know what they will be though!
You should take this up with BHS and local papers etc, get some publicity out of it and don't let them get away with it.
 
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