Hi guys,

Recently in our area, there's been lots of press about "boy racers" with stupidly loud exhausts.

http://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/a...ising_headache/

In response to stuff like this and how much the generalisation of the press pisses me off, I've started a petition..

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36436

It hasn't got many signatures now, but please don't let that put you off!

Tell your friends, post it on forums, I'm sick of almost getting bullied purely because my car is modified!

Cheers,

Charlie

Signed :)

Wont make any difference.

i dont care if I'm generalised as a boy racer, couldnt give a fuck if the general public think I'm a dick, let them be brainwashed by the press lol.

Just sayin.. we are already hated on, fuck them!

Why not just keep it all legal?

Just sayin'

If your car is legal then you have nothing to worry about. Driving a modified car makes you a Target of a lot of things (police attention, public attention, thieves attention), its all part of owning a modified car, so in reality your petition should be entitled some thing like " Stop The Owners Of Modified Cars Making Themselves An Easy Target!, UK Petition: SIGN IT!!"

That's all about the twats down lakeside, Why I never go down anymore.

Just Chavs in Saxo's and 106's thinking they're cool.

I'm from Essex and I've had no problems with being a victim being I'm classed as a 'Boyracer'

Been pulled a few times, but just let go as there's nothing wrong.

I'll sign it, but I don't think it'll come to anything.

These petitions need 100,000 signatures before they are even considered for debate, and even when they are debated the politicians can just throw them out.

Like they did with petrol pricing, EU membership referendum or the house of lords reform.

Does anyone else get frustrated when the public constantly tells the people they elected what they want, and they refuse to make changes.

I know it's difficult to see the big picture all the time, but I think a lot of these career politicians put their own interests first.

Like not changing the voting system to proportionate representation, or making general election boundary reforms because it could result in them losing a seat or making their position redundant.

If your car is legal then you have nothing to worry about. Driving a modified car makes you a Target of a lot of things (police attention, public attention, thieves attention), its all part of owning a modified car, so in reality your petition should be entitled some thing like " Stop The Owners Of Modified Cars Making Themselves An Easy Target!, UK Petition: SIGN IT!!"

It's regardless if your car is 'legal', police will still generalise you for loads of other different things..

I've never been pulled for having a modified car, and i go cruising. But when i go to meets we try to keep the cars static, no racing around, as it ruins it for everyone. My old white coupe had a straight through, with 4 inch back box. Was really loud, and i have been driving in front of Police cars and they were never interested. The car was all legal, and kept in good condition, so i had nothing to worry about.

The petition we should be starting is against the idiots talked about in the article you posted. Get them off the road, cars crushed, and this will be alot more effective. As the people left are true car enthusiasts and actually less likely to abuse their vehicles than anyone else on the road. We take pride in them and are more likely to keep our cars properly maintained, and legal, than your average joe.

If your car is legal you have nothing to worry about?

The most sensible thing a policeman ever said to me was when I was stopped at about 3am on a Friday night.

Just a routine stop, to which he said 'if an uninsured driver hit you or infact your car had been stolen, we'd like to think stopping them would be helpful.'

Perfectly resonable really....

Loud exhausts do my head in, be it on a Polo or a 49cc ped. As do the cars that people clearly bodge together.

If your car is legal then you have nothing to worry about. Driving a modified car makes you a Target of a lot of things (police attention, public attention, thieves attention), its all part of owning a modified car, so in reality your petition should be entitled some thing like " Stop The Owners Of Modified Cars Making Themselves An Easy Target!, UK Petition: SIGN IT!!"

It's regardless if your car is 'legal', police will still generalise you for loads of other different things..

generalise? So this is now about how the polices portray modified car drivers? I thought it was about using them as an easy target?

If it is still about the latter then its impossible for the law to use you as an easy target if you are not breaking the law. If you are in anyway then they are just doing their job of finding people who are breaking the law

How police 'generalise' some one is surely irrelevant? If they tag everyone that drives a modified car as a boy racer so what? It's nothing that the media and the general public don't do already and a petition has no way of changing something like that. As long as the modified car driver is doing nothing wrong then the police can do nothing to them. They might disrupt part of their day by pulling them over and checking over their car, bit if its all legit then its nothing more than a minor inconvenience. If they keep on doing this then complain to the relevant people that you are being harassed and it should stop

I think i've been pulled twice in the five years i've owned the blue one, and once in the four years i owned the red one. Both very loud engines, both cars stuck out a mile to look at (red one had Starsky & Hutch stripes, england flags, all sorts on occasions).

No hassle. Most of the times i got pulled were in standard cars. And only really when i was young, inexperienced and so making mistakes which made me stand out. Such as having modifications which didn't make sense, such as ones which impair my vision and cause me to scrape the ground..

In my experience the old bill have generally been consistently fair, they were actually only dirty once (just last year) that i can think of, and they've offset that by being more reasonable than they had to be on previous occasions. Maybe it's because i don't treat them like pigs..?

Whatever. They've just not been a problem, i don't see a case, i ain't signing.

generalising someone wont stand up in court fortunately lol. So theres nout to worry about. So what if you get pulled, they wont find a problem and ull be on you are way, happy days

Perhaps I'm going around this the wrong way then..

I'm just getting more a more frustrated with the Police recently.

I was pulled over recently and forced to remove stickers because they were offensive ("WheelWhores" and "CarPorn").

Considering over 500 CarPorn stickers have been made and lots more WheelWhores stickers, surely they have no right to victimise me?

Especially considering the fact that was the second time they pulled me over that day (previously for "tyres exceeding body" and "stretched tyres") despite there being no law against stretched tyres (and I was running 175's on a 7J wheel (very slight stretch compared to others I have seen in my local area).

Thanks for the discussion around this subject, I think some of you are right in what you say, If I want to do something around this, I should go about it in a better fashion really.

My local paper have been in touch with my recently regarding the article I linked to in the original post, so that could get some more attention on the case.

Any other views on how I could go about this from a better angle?

Cheers,

Charlie

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Edit:

Too add to this..

A few weeks ago I turned onto a back road off of a roundabout which was a 30 limit, doing the speed limit, I pulled onto this road before another car (they were approaching the roundabout as I was exiting it).

- I was doing the speed limit the whole way along the road (I'm not really one to speed to be honest).

- The car that was behind me was sat right up my arse, to a point that was making me feel uneasy..

- I'm tapping my brakes to try to see if he will back off a bit.

- It's quite a dark road so I cant see his plate, or what car it is

- The speed limit goes up to 40, then to national (he was sat up my arse the whole time)

- after the national stretch, there's another roundabout with streetlights around it.

- when pulling up to the roundabout I look in my rear view mirror and the car that has sat up my arse for the past 10 minutes is a Police car.

Thinking back, I wish I got a plate but I was so shocked that they would do such a thing...

I guess it was to make me speed off.

It's not on, that sort of driving is dangerous, if a deer had ran out in front of me and I braked hard, he would have hit me...

Surely it's not just me that this stuff happens to?

Edited 3 August, 201214 yr by charliejennings

You must just be unlucky lol.

Police must have nothing to do around you. I've sat infront of a copper speeding before now and they haven't done anything

I think if you are followed by a copper and start sticking exactly to the speedlimit, they are more likely to think theres something suspicious, i always sit a touch over the limit lol

Edited 3 August, 201214 yr by B-shaw

Perhaps I'm going around this the wrong way then..

I'm just getting more a more frustrated with the Police recently.

I was pulled over recently and forced to remove stickers because they were offensive ("WheelWhores" and "CarPorn").

Considering over 500 CarPorn stickers have been made and lots more WheelWhores stickers, surely they have no right to victimise me?

Especially considering the fact that was the second time they pulled me over that day (previously for "tyres exceeding body" and "stretched tyres") despite there being no law against stretched tyres (and I was running 175's on a 7J wheel (very slight stretch compared to others I have seen in my local area).

To anyone who doesent know what it means it sais WHORES on your car and PORN. In a way i can see the thinking behind making you remove them.

Maybe they ''victimise'' the other 499 people with the CARPORN sticker too? If you dont like the ''victimisation'' dont have it!

As for tyres, if your running wheels that dont fit, which at the time they did stick out then they can stop you for routine check. If it looks dangerous they can do something, wether its a specific law on wheel poke or not. Its unfortunatly the officers discression. So be nice, take it like a champ and get on with it.

Maybe, just maybe all the other people get ''victimised'' too about the stretch?

The law against stretched tyres is kinda there, theres a reccomended manufacture fitment guide. fair enough it is only reccomended but I'm sure if it looked dangerous like i mentioned earlier its the officers discression.

You dont see all that many FIA spec cars running poke stretch and the likes do you? they are modified and I'm sure if one was on the road it would get spot checked as the copper maybe intrested in it. But none run half the stuff we seem to and you dont get much stricter than the FIA regs so if you want 100% legal go read the blue book and the highway code.

Edited 3 August, 201214 yr by POLOMON

Don't take this so personally, if you have your own beef with the police then you can always follow the relevant complaints procedures..

It's regardless if your car is 'legal', police will still generalise you for loads of other different things..

This makes it sound like you are kicking up a fuss because you have a personal problem with the police. One day, pedantic shit like this won't bother you any more.

As for this new move by police, I don't see any problem with it and in fact sympathize with the residents who have to deal with this problem. Car noise is a serious issue, and whilst their way of testing seems a bit unfair when there is no actual noise limit specified in the law or MOT requirements (as I'm aware.. please correct me), you have to consider the impact all of those cars driving around will have on people who have to live in that area. And this isn't to mention the kind of driving that presumably accompanies the noise and the anti-social, potentially dangerous effect it must have on other road users.

Race tracks have strict noise limits that cars using them must adhere, it's logical to think that this would apply to the road even more so. And if you think you are going to be targeted and 'tarred by the same brush' by the police just because you have a modified car; you are completely right. It's how they work, how they have worked and how they always will work. By choosing to modify your car, you are choosing to stand out and you will just have to deal with it. It just means you're going to have to make sure that every modification you make is legal, every other aspect of your car is legal, and your driving is fucking flawless, 100% of the time.

I used to think like you and others on here, that me and my driving on the roads was all that matters, but one day you will come to realize that there are other people about that have no interest in cars or motoring. Car boffs like us are just minorities, in this case the police have to keep the majority happy, sometimes at the expense of the minority.

“Drivers need to be aware of the consequences of their anti-social behaviour and consider the impact of their actions to residents and local people" - That is true, and fair to say.

To summarize, get over it bro.

^^^ isn't that entrapment?

got pulled last week on way to cornwall for holidays. Didnt need a 45 minute chat with a cop during a 300 mile journey down A roads TBH. Was pulled because the cop slowed to see if I'd overtake- i didnt. So he peeled off and back on behind me and saw me move into the second lane to let someone join and said it was odd I didnt overtake him but I moved out to overtake a 10mph car lol in a national.

chatted about my car being low and stuck his fingers in the arch gap, pulled out road dirt and said this is your rubber from scrubing tyre walls WTF joker, brand new unmarked tyres. Then said he could take my car blah blah, my legal UK BSAU stamped pressed plates could get me a 60 quid fine each... have i told my insurance that me rear badge is black?

Best thing was he said I wouldnt wanna ruin my Nankangs- as apparently they are really really expensive tyres lol

but worst thing was the greasy hand print he left on my freshly waxed bonnet uurrghh...

then he said he'll be waiting for my return next week as he's on duty

everything was legal and he said he'll let me go this time lol

d.

^^^That's the thing tho, there are wankers working as police giving them a bad name among people like us, but there are also wankers among us giving us a bad name among people who work in the police force

They have to deal with cocky little shits with a bad attitude and if they have done nothing wrong they can't do anything about it, its the reverse of your situation really

^^^That's the thing tho, there are wankers working as police giving them a bad name among people like us, but there are also wankers among us giving us a bad name among people who work in the police force

They have to deal with cocky little shits with a bad attitude and if they have done nothing wrong they can't do anything about it, its the reverse of your situation really

too right guy, there are some right fucking nobbers out there, usually they are kind whose balls haven't dropped and drive around like twats. I have a desire to make myself come across as a calm nice chap to folk I meet be they customers at work, people in the street or police who has stopped me for speeding (which because I was nice and charming to the two lady cops that stopped me, I got away with). but like you say these cocky twats think the world owes them something, and the sooner they get big slap in the face from reality they will be reet.

i personally love it when i get pulled by the police!!!

I'm legal in every way so i love it when i get some PIG try and bs me saying my suspension to hard or to low i love arguing with them and wasting there time i video record it to some times so me and my mates get some laughs out of it.

My best advise to young drivers is learn the law what you can and cant do!!! what the police can and cant do (very important especially if like me you like a smoke and if you shit stinks like mine does lol)!! what is acceptable and what is not that's why i still have no points after 7 years of driving.

know your rights people!!!!

Edited 3 August, 201214 yr by cheddarcheese

Why not just keep it all legal?

Just sayin'

exactly.

if everyone made sure their car was legal and drives responsibly we wouldn't be a "easy target" in the first place.

i won't be signing the petition.

I'm legal in every way so i love it when i get some PIG

This attitude is the problem. Now who's generalising?

Again, I'll admit to having an anti authority stance when I was younger, them against us type of attitude but that's gone me close to trouble before with the old bill. The police are supposed to have a reason to pull you but I'm afraid, if you look shifty, they may well make up a reason (like when I was pulled for 'no insurance' which magically appeared when the officer checked again ) but the car was legit so there was nothing to worry about. You are a young lad on the road in a totally bait motor. Look at the majority of 'idiots' on the road, ragging it about and generally driving dangerously, what do they look like (young lads driving bait hot hatches?)? And which group of the population is involved in the most accidents? Young males, you! You may not like it, but I'm sick of people having a go at the police because they choose to live in the grey area of the law (stretched tyres for example). If you want to stay out of the laws way, drive a standard 6n very carefully. It's the price you pay for having a modified car, a little attention from the police.

Keep your car legit, treat the police officer with resepct and be a little 'nice' to them and you'll probably get away with a bit of attention. Kick off and start telling the police how to do their job and you'll find yourself with a butt load of tickets and someone keeping an eye on you in future. You may not like it because your an Anacho-Punk, but it'll make your life a little easier.

^^Nail... On... The... Head. Anyone else noticed, its almost always lads, with stretched tyres, and cars that are ridiculously low, that get pulled, and come on here bleating about it? Get some wheels and tyres that fit and some suspension that doesnt look broken, and you wont have a problem :lol: