It’s what you might call an epic fail – driving into the police car that is trying to stop you.
Yet this is the situation that one team from Devon and Cornwall Police found themselves at the centre of this week when trying to pull over a vehicle on the A30.
The force’s dedicated ‘No Excuse’ road safety team had been monitoring the A30 at Bolventor, just off Bodmin Moor, when they had cause to stop a vehicle.
Unfortunately, the driver of the vehicle proved unable to carry out this request and in fact stop, bumping into the police car instead.
Police said that the driver then blew a reading of 132 microgrammes of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit being 35.
Writing a post about it afterwards, on social media, one of the police team members posted a picture of a breathalyser test reading, adding: “When you’re drunk enough that you drive into the Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team car stopping you.
“One in the cells after blowing the lower reading of 132 - the limit being 35.”
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It was just one event in a busy week for the team, which also included a short police chase on Wednesday, near Redruth.
The team wrote how a stolen vehicle had been driven away from officers, but after a short pursuit the driver stopped and tried to get away on foot – although they didn’t get far.
“Driver on drugs, no licence and stolen property in the vehicle,” added the team.
And that wasn’t all. On Tuesday the police stopped a van on the A30 at Plusha to find the driver delivering parcels without any insurance, with a team member adding: “Checks with immigration reveal his visa expired last year and should no longer be in the UK - driver now in custody.”
The busy week started last Saturday when the team described themselves as in the “right place at the right time” when a car was spotted driving along the A30 at Plusha in the wrong direction.
It transpired that the Ford Focus had exited the lay-by and driven west - on the east side of the dual carriageway.
The vehicle was stopped and the driver reported to court.
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