An aged Vauxhall Senator (3 litre, rear wheel drive) which is used on the skid pan only. It has its headlights removed, bald tyres at twice the normal pressure and drives on a smooth water-and-oil-covered surface.
People emerge from the above vehicle after a ride out on the skidpan with a police skidpan driving instructor.
A collection of Durham’s vehicles used for police driver training. They are used for response driving, general driving, practice pursuits and TPAC (tactical pursuit and containment) on the public roads. They all have small crests at the rear of the sides, two small blue lights on the grilles, sirens, roof markings and police signs on the back.
R445 JTN and R448 JTN are two Land Rovers suitable for on- and off- road use in the Durham Dales..
Two conspicuous Honda Pan-European Cleveland Police traffic bikes.
An odd one now: a road safety device. The chair slides down the slope and hits the stop at 5 mph. This gives the rider quite a jolt, and makes them realise that if they didn’t have the seatbelt on they’d be flung off it.
Y797 ECN A 2001 Volvo V70 from Northumbria Police.
The side-on view.
Y368 FUP This is BMW’s Mini Cooper. Durham Constabulary use this loaned 125 mph, £14,000 car for road safety purposes. There are no plans to re-introduce the Mini to Durham’s fleet. Police Minis were a regular sight on UK roads in the 1960’s.
The front view.
The side view.
The rear view.
Here are some Durham vehicles in the garages at Headquarters.
A Land Rover defender 90 is also on the ramps.
We finish this section with an aged Freight Rover 400 series LDV. It is ‘M’ registration and is now only be used for non-urgent personnel transportation.
X893 NUG This is a West Yorkshire Police Jaguar S-type, used for traffic policing duties. Notice the small repeater blue strobes in the front air intake.
The front three-quarter view.
The rear view, showing the whole boot striped. This is rare as most traffic cars are estates or hatchbacks to accommodate the plethora of equipment carried. Also notice the matrix sign where the registration plate is usually affixed.
V64 NUM is a Ford Escort Van used to carry police dogs by West Yorks.
Here you can see the vicious dogs safely caged in the back!
Y493 HUA This is a 2001 Volvo V70 from West Yorks. Notice the same repeater blue lights as the S-type on the front bumper.
M410 JWK A Peugeot community policing van again from West Yorks.
2 WYP Honda motorbikes in Leeds city centre.
N125 DYG The last West Yorks vehicle here is a Ford Transit with grilles over the lights and optional windscreen shield.
P732 FUD is a North Yorkshire Volvo S70 traffic policing car in York. The small white patch towards the rear of the side is an advert for Crimestoppers which is carried on most NYP vehicles.
Y684 HWY This photo shows the conspicuous battenburg livery of a N.Yorks. Mercedes transportation / riot van. There is little chance of missing this vehicle from the side!
Here is the frontal view, showing the ‘wrap-around’ battenburg squares and riot shield.
V949 RDN is a Nissan Terrano in York.
The rear view. Notice that it has the same light bar as the Volvo above.
Y697 HWY A Peugeot 306 panda car from NYP. Those battenburg marking get another vehicle side to fill! There are guidelines out that say any police vehicle that will be used on a motorway must carry battenburg markings. Maybe in a few years time they will change their minds again…
The opposing view.
Here we have a Mercedes Police Support vehicle. It is primarily used for transporting police equipment, such as road cones and temporary fencing. Inset: the front view.
Here’s a self-explanatory P-registration Peugeot Expert. There are no blue lights and the only markings are on the sides. Inset: the rear view.
T57 SUG Two views of a West Yorkshire Police Vauxhall Omega estate . In addition to the roof lights, it has two small blue flashing lights sitting next to the front fog lights. It is being used to block the road on the approach to a major accident.
The front view.
This is a multi-purpose Peugeot police van. In this case it has been converted internally to carry dogs.
This is a X-registration Ford Fiesta in the battenburg stripe livery of Northumbria Police
X272 CWP is a Vauxhall Astra police car. With the recent rise of more colourful liveries, it seem odd to have such a minimally marked car. This car is actually a demonstrator given to the force by Vauxhall. They don’t have any crests etc. as they move from force to force. Notice that the lights are mounted on a separate platform to avoid damaging the paintwork, as it would only be used as a general purpose car there are no real requirements with regard to markings. Once they have served their purpose they can be sold to the general public as ex-demo’s through the dealer network.
V638 LUM is a Vauxhall Astra from the West Yorkshire Police fleet. For many years they have advertised the non-emergency number to contact them on their vehicles, 0845 6060606, to cut down on inappropriate 999 calls.
X784 NWR Here are two views of a Volvo V70 T5. Notice the arrangement of the roof lights, with a row of red lights below the main bar facing rearwards. North Yorks Police added the Crimestoppers name and phone number to the back of their vehicles in May 2001. If you have any information about a crime, this local rate number can be used in the UK. You do not have to give your name and you may receive a cash reward.
The rear of the T5.
Here is a pair of Volvo S70 T5’s S772 OFT and V474 ECN on the A1, South of Newcastle upon Tyne. They were the last of the ‘jam sandwich’ style for patrol cars is being replaced by the high visibility ‘battenburg’ markings.
This shows two Volvo traffic police cars as a helicopter would see them.
Two Volvo’s on the A1 again, Bottom right: a police outrider from above, Bottom far right: the flashing red lights on the rear of a Volvo. All of the above photographs were taken when the Police were escorting 200 Heavy Goods Vehicles, on a go-slow protest, during the UK Fuel Protests of September 2000.
This next picture shows the changing livery of Northumbria Police again. Even Panda cars (in this case Ford Fiestas) were being changed to carry battenburg markings. Clearly the older car on the right R673 PNL has the older markings, and the newer one on the left V866 DCN, the newer markings.