Whilst driving along a straight coast road tonight at about 9:30PM, I noticed a silver Octavia vRS approaching me from behind at speed (I was doing 40mph as per the speed limit). After half a mile or so blue lights came on from behind the grille of the Octavia. As we were the only two cars around and he made no effort to pass me, I realised it was me he wanted to speak to so I pulled over.

I switched off my engine and got out to meet the officer. "Do you know your headlights are illegal", he says to me... No "hello" or "good evening sir". Anyway, I was slightly puzzled by his comment, so after stuttering a bit, I asked him to explain, to which he replied "the headlight bulbs you have fitted to this car are not suitable for road use, take a seat in my car please". I ignored his invitation and explained that my car has factory fitted Xenon headlights which are correctly aligned and un-modified. To this, he replied "The headlights in your vehicle are NOT factory fitted and have been changed by somebody at some point - and by driving the vehicle you are committing an offence". By this point I was getting rather irritated by the attitude of the officer, and his seeming lack of ability to listen to basic reasoning. I showed him my headlight switch, and then compared it to the switch in his car - I then explained that mine is lacking the load adjuster wheel because xenon headlights are automatically controlled. I offered to point out the sensors on the suspension but he refused to look!

I was struggling to stay calm and polite so forced myself to bite my tongue. It was fairly obvious that this gentleman would argue that black was white if it meant he was in the right. When I explained that I am a serving officer based in another force, I was told that he is a traffic officer with far more experience than myself. A traffic officer who is not familiar with xenon lights.. yeah, ok.

In the end I left, complete with my £30 fine. I have printed off the relevant pages from ETKA which show the various components and part numbers for the headlights. I will take great pleasure attaching them to my carefully worded letter...

It's all good fun!

Ooooh this could run and run. Looking forward to the updates

Not much you can say to that

i would have taken his name and number etc and reported him. tit.

I hope you pay the fine.

Maybe he was jealous of your xenon.

Sounds rediculous. Be proud that you can bite your lip, I wouldn't be able to.

Can you let it go to court?? Would be simply hilarious imho!

Fight Fight

Oooeerrr

Sounds a plonka - hope you have success in 'showing him the error of his ways' :thumbup:

What a day. I guess I came off lucky as I didn't get a fine but it sounds like the policeman who pulled you over went to the same police school as the policeman who pulled me over.

Good luck with your letter

What a day. I guess I came off lucky as I didn't get a fine but it sounds like the policeman who pulled you over went to the same police school as the policeman who pulled me over.

Good luck with your letter

Your lucky he didn't notice your lights.

Probably a good chance the copper knows he was wrong after you pointed that out but some polis' I know have a problem with admitting they are wrong and backing down.

Hope you get a decent result and if it were me I would be down at the station ASAP incase they think you have messed about with the car since being stopped.

Whats illegal about aftermarket xenons anyway?? I know that from the factory a car with xenons needs washers and self levelling sensors, but I thought that didn't apply if they were retrofitted.

What is the ticket for exactly??

Make sure you file a formal complaint regarding the manner, attitude, rudeness etc of the officer.

How did he manage to tell that your headlights were 'illegal' from behind your vehicle?

if it were me I would be down at the station ASAP incase they think you have messed about with the car since being stopped.

I'm going to take a trip down to H/Q in the morning, as soon as I have collected the various bits and pieces I want to back up my case.

How did he manage to tell that your headlights were 'illegal' from behind your vehicle?

Apparently he had been parked up in a car park which I had driven past. I didn't notice him though.

Whats illegal about aftermarket xenons anyway?? I know that from the factory a car with xenons needs washers and self levelling sensors, but I thought that didn't apply if they were retrofitted.

What is the ticket for exactly??

Make sure you file a formal complaint regarding the manner, attitude, rudeness etc of the officer.

I think the main concern with after market HID's is the beam scatter/glare. If they're fitted to projector type headlights then they tend not to cause a problem but are illegal because the headlight unit is not type approved to run a xenon bulb.

Good luck in getting things sorted.

The guy sounds like a right ****

Hardluck Phil... Goodluck hanging him out to dry

this is rediculous... a real problem... needs reporting. (and reporting back)

I think this guy should stand to lose his job for that attitude, or at least have a very formal telling off. That or have one of those xenon transformer things shoved up his *** while live

Whats illegal about aftermarket xenons anyway?? I know that from the factory a car with xenons needs washers and self levelling sensors, but I thought that didn't apply if they were retrofitted.

AIUI The legality of Aftermarket HIDs comes down to the technicality of whether the kit is approved for use.

Department for Transport - Aftermarket HID (Xenon) headlamps

hth

Dft-download[1].pdf

A vehicle data sticker decode and VAG Com report would prove that they are factory fitted and working correctly. It seems that that policeman needs to suffer some inconvenience for his behaviour and arrogance.

So what actual technical qualifications are required to be a Traffic Policeman?

...So what actual technical qualifications are required to be a Traffic Policeman?

Being an ar$ehole and the inability to admit you're ever wrong judging by the two experiences yesterday

I think this guy should stand to lose his job for that attitude, or at least have a very formal telling off. That or have one of those xenon transformer things shoved up his *** while live

I think this traffic officer should be made to pay you a visit and apologize in person

It's all a little silly as you quite clearly know what your talking about and did offer to prove your explanation to which he refused

I'm finding it hard to contain my rage more down to the sheer arrogance and rudeness, it costs nothing to be polite!

Please let us know the outcome

I thought the only way to check the beam/scatter pattern was using equipment at a garage? Never seen it done hand held by the roadside....which didn't happen here either from the OP.

So what we have here is a genetically modified cop with special eyes that can assess, either from behind a car or as it passes at 40mph, the bulb type, lense type and alignment of car headlights........sound completely reasonable........cough.

hang this jobsworth out to dry. You don't want a personal apology, you want a written explaination and apology.

Which should then be duly sent to the all the local papers and posted on here.